Lost Fragments
by Kaizer23
Summary: Living the life of an adventurer was not something Shidou had seen himself doing a year and a half prior - but back then, he was as impressionable as a blank slate. Having gotten used to such a life, how would things change when he and his partner IF, meet with the recent amnesiac, Neptune?
1. The Precursor to Change

I really shouldn't be starting a new story after leaving some of my stories without updates... but I really couldn't help myself. Anyway, since none of the crossovers between Date A Live and Hyperdimension Neptunia had been particularly satisfying for me, I decided to try my hand at it!

Not that I'm that confident with it seeing as I'm still learning the ropes for comedy, which Neptunia has a lot of.

So word of warning, this story might be a bit more serious than what is expected of a Hyperdimension Neptunia story.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Hyperdimension Neptunia or Date A Live.**

* * *

A voice was calling out to him.

 _Please -_ _ou can -oice, hel- me!_

He could not tell who the owner of the voice was, all that could be discerned was that the voice was unmistakably female and that she was distressed.

He had this dream before – it had occurred countless times in the past six months, but recently had become more and more frequent.

-What trouble are you facing?

Despite the clarity of his thoughts, the disembodied voice would never reply.

-How can I help you?

It was a dream; he should not put too much thought in something that was supposed to be conceived by the mind to organize memories gathered in the waking world.

But would his memories in the waking world produce such a voice? Let alone, one asking for his help?

He knew that he shouldn't put much thought with this recurring dream, but he couldn't help but ask – even if he knew it would not be answered.

-Who are you?

A silence permeated the expanse of black that shrouded his eyes.

Then, he felt a light tug.

Light began to shine through the darkness, and instinctively he knew that he was beginning to wake.

 _-My name is Histoire_

Startled by the reply, his resistance to waking vanished completely and the light that was beginning to encompass his vision momentarily blinded him…

* * *

"Shidou. Wake up!"

"W-WAH!?"

Falling down his bed, a young blue haired teen rubbed his sides and picked himself off of the floor. He wore a gray colored pants folded up to just below his knees, a black t-shirt worn under an unbuttoned short sleeved blue polo.

"You took your time waking up, Shidou." A female voice chastised, looming over the young man.

"S-sorry, IF."

Upon standing up, the young man was easily one head taller than the female that had allegedly woken him up.

"Come on. I've already picked up a quest from the local Basilicom, and it seems they're paying quite the sum for this one."

The girl named IF had long brown hair that grew past her shoulders towards the curve of her back. She wore a blue jacket, that seemed to be one size larger than she was, over a black tube top and a black short. She also wore a bow with a leaf like decoration, reminiscent of the trees that grew around the landmass of Leanbox.

Although IF was of the same age as Shidou, she looked to be at least a year or two younger in appearance.

"Hm?" IF directed a glare towards Shidou. "Were you thinking something rude right about now?"

"W-what? There's no way that's the case! I – I was just a bit confused due to my drea-"

Shidou tried to stop himself, but it was too late as IF frowned at him.

"That dream again?"

Shidou wanted to deny it, but IF had a sharp intuition and she could easily spot it if he was lying. It was something to be expected seeing as IF was the one that had practically raised him.

"Yes." He admitted reluctantly. "It's been happening a lot more lately. Like I'm getting closer to something…"

The dreams weren't exactly a bother, but its contents were troubling. Another source of worry was that it may be connected to the past he could not recall.

If it was something traumatizing, IF had said that there was no need to attempt to recall it.

"Should we leave then?"

"N-no…" Shidou immediately denied. "You already accepted the quest, right? And besides, we'd be leaving tomorrow for Lastation anyway."

He didn't want to be a burden to her, seeing as she had picked him up when he had just lost his memories. She had done so much for him that acting as her partner in her quests was only a small step towards repaying that debt.

"If you're sure." She said, unconvinced, before turning around to face the door. "Pick up your sword and let's go."

"Wait, what about breakfast?"

IF freezes at the mention of breakfast.

"T-there's no need! It will be a quick job anyway, so we can save some funds for lunch later."

Shidou was at first confused with her words, before a playful grin entered his lips.

"Oh? Is this about your reaction from last night?"

"O-of course not! I'm just saying it's more efficient to skip breakfast for today!"

"Now, now, IF. I had nothing to do with your reaction to my cooking last night." Shidou said with an amused shake of his head. "Besides, weren't you the one that taught me to always be fully prepared before going into a dungeon?"

IF had taught all of what Shidou knew on what is needed to become an adventurer. This included how to fight, what to look for in a battlefield to increase the chances of victory and various other aspects that would increase the chances of him surviving an encounter or being stranded out in the wild.

It was for that matter that bringing up any of her teachings to coerce IF to doing what Shidou wished was difficult to refute. Refuting it would be tantamount to being a hypocrite and that was something IF could not condone.

"…fine."

As if pulling out a tooth, IF let those difficult words slip out of her lips.

"Right then, wait here. I think we still have left over from last night's dinner, so I guess I'll prepare a simple omelette with orange juice."

Shidou sneaked a glance at IF, and caught a relieved look from her. Smiling a bit mischievously, Shidou added, "Unless you want it to be more complex, IF?"

"No, no! Simple is good!"

It wasn't as if Shidou enjoyed making things difficult for IF. If anything, Shidou was extremely grateful for IF that he would do just about anything for her as to repay his debt. That being the case, Shidou could not look away from possible factors that may reduce the chances of survival – and an empty stomach can easily decrease the chances of survival due to lack of energy.

Procuring some eggs and a pack of oranges from the fridge, Shidou entered the kitchen of their safehouse and put on his recently purchased apron.

It had only been recently that Shidou had started cooking.

Cracking a few eggs after putting a dash of oil onto the pan, Shidou began cooking the omelette while he prepared the other ingredients. With scarcely a thought, the vegetables were sliced up and, barely ten minutes in, two plates of omelette were served.

Placing the plate in front of IF, who looked like the food in front of her was about to eat her alive, Shidou gave a grin.

"Come now, IF. The food isn't going to eat you!"

"…you didn't add anything special to this, right?"

"Special? I only used the ingredients available to us."

That seemed to bolster IF's resolve as she grabbed her spoon.

"Let's eat!"

The sounds that came from IF's mouth soon after wouldn't be too different from something pulled directly from a rather lewd ecchi anime.

* * *

Within the cave that held the target monster that the Basilicom had tasked them to slay, IF and Shidou were having a casual conversation.

"…are you sure you don't have some cheat ability to make food delicious?" IF questioned, her cheeks red in embarrassment and her eyes turned away from the boy right next to her.

"I don't think so." Shidou replied. "Although I was as surprised as you are that I was any good at it."

To reiterate, Shidou had only started cooking quite recently. He had only purchased an apron two days ago, and when Shidou had joined IF in her travels, only IF had cooked. In the off chance that IF was incapable of cooking or they lacked the ingredients to do so, they had purchased food from local food stands or restaurants. If those were not available, foraging for edible materials was the next alternative.

Shidou had no experience in cooking from his one and a half years of memories, but when he had taken up the role of cooking a week ago, Shidou was just as surprised as IF with his skill with it.

"Were you a chef before you lost your memories? No… you're too young for that. Maybe you were the child of a traveling chef but because of a great tragedy, you were separated, your father thought you to be dead, and you had lost all of your memory of your family legacy!"

"What is that, the plot of a manga centered on cooking?!"

"But you can't deny that it's something you must have done before you lost your memories."

"That's true…"

Shidou had simply picked up a knife that day, and somehow, his body moved with scarcely a thought. He had thought at that time that he would have to recall all the times that IF had cooked food and haphazardly emulate it, but his body moved with little prodding and he had somehow produced a meal that wouldn't be out of place from a three-star or even four-star restaurant.

"Still, I guess that means you weren't a warrior of some sort before you lost your memories." IF said to herself, before stopping.

Shidou, quickly understanding the situation, took out his weapon hanging on his back.

The weapon was a large double-edged great sword, nearly as wide as Shidou's own body and its weight would easily make it difficult for anyone of IF's build to even think of fighting with it. Despite its size and weight however, Shidou easily handled it with one hand before holding it with both.

For IF's part, she didn't make any large movements but somehow, a pair of Katar's made itself apparent from IF's sleeves.

"Three Clydes." IF declared, her eyes spotting the glowing eyes of the monster through the dimly lit cavern. "I'll engage two of them in combat while you take out the other."

"Understood."

IF dashed forward, her body close to the ground and within a second, she was in front of one Clyde her katar blurring, inflicting several gouges on the Clydes's skin causing it to flinch backwards.

The other Clydes made to act, but before it can do anything but raise its club, IF had spun on place and delivered a roundhouse kick towards the Clydes's head, sending it rolling on the ground. The third Clyde leapt towards IF, intent on attacking her but a large great sword descended and had immediately cleaved the attacking Clydes in half.

IF gave a nod of acknowledgement before parrying the lunge of the Clydes she had kicked. Once the Clyde slid beside her, she followed up a quick jab to the jugular sending blood gushing out of the punctured blood vessel and to follow up, Shidou stabbed the Clyde by the trunk of its body with his great sword, ending any form of resistance.

The last Clydes remaining attempted to attack Shidou's prone back, but IF had foreseen it coming and had vaulted over Shidou's form to meet the Clydes with her katar, forcing the Clydes to land on its back.

Leaping through the air, she sent one last attack towards the Clydes's neck, ending its life.

"…that was quick." Shidou commented, after taking a good look at the surrounding to make sure there weren't any nearby other monsters.

"You're just getting used to how a battle is supposed to go. Still… you have ways to go if you were going to let that last Clyde attack your back."

"…sorry."

IF swung her Katar a few times to get rid of the flecks of blood that remained on it, while Shidou similarly made the same swings before placing his great sword on his back.

"Just don't forget that I won't always have your back, Shidou." IF started to walk further into the cave, with Shidou follower her a few steps behind. "For that matter, why did you choose a great sword anyway? You don't seem to have the build of a great sword user."

"Why?" Shidou took a moment to think about it, before shaking his head. "I'm not sure really. It just felt like… I've used something similar before."

"Something from your past, huh? Still, it doesn't look like you have any skill on using it before I taught you. That's even after you got that… _crystal_ from Leanbox." IF said, her voice a tinge doubtful. "Your skill with the great sword isn't anything like your skill in coo- OOF!"

"IF!?"

Shidou quickly moved forward, to see IF on her butt while across from her, was a purple haired preteen wearing a hoodie with purple edges and a lighter purple that was close to the color white main body. She wore thigh high socks that had white and light blue stripes and she wore shorts much shorter than the one IF was wearing.

"Ow… Watch it, girl. This isn't the place for kindergarteners to have recess!" IF says heatedly, rubbing her head.

The purple haired girl directed a glare towards IF as she stood up.

"Kindergarteners? Looks who's talking! Who're you? Do you live in this icky cave?"

IF stood up as well and directed a glare towards the other girl.

"Do I look like a ragged bum to you? I'm IF. I'm here to eliminate the monsters here with my partner as requested by the Basilicom. Who're you?"

At the mention of partner, the purple haired girl directed her gaze towards Shidou. The other girl behind the purple haired girl, one that held long pink hair, black choker with a pink heart, and wore a white sweater over her modest chest, also directed her gaze towards Shidou.

"I-I'm Shidou." He introduced a bit awkwardly. "I'm IF's partner."

Thinking on his words a bit, it was a rather lackluster introduction.

"Ohhh… a guy, huh? And seeing as you're already actively in a party… does this mean that the genre has shifted from all girls yuri fest into a harem?"

…what was this girl talking about?

"I'm Neptune!" She introduced cheerfully. "The one behind me is Compa and we've come here to eliminate the monsters to help people in danger!"

"H-hello. I enjoy arts and crafts, and I'm good at math. I know I don't look like it, but it's something I'm quite proud of."

The purple haired girl called Neptune, turned her attention towards Compa.

"So you're good at math? Then from now in you're in charge of item inventory and accounting!" With that declaration, she turned her attention back towards IF and Shidou. "Anyway, why not help us conquer this dungeon?"

IF turned her attention towards Shidou, her eyes asking if it was fine with him.

Shidou had no real qualms against partying with another set of adventurers and after looking over the pair… he couldn't help but feel worried for them.

"Fine. The more help we get, the easier it would be for us. Anyway, know this! It isn't us joining you, but you joining us!"

Neptune's eyes brightened at IF's acceptance of the invitation.

"Oh, you'll do it? I'm glad I asked! Compa, Iffy said she and Shidou are joining our party!"

Was the girl really listening? …and wait, Iffy?

"Whatever." IF said, shaking her head in slight frustration. "And don't call me Iffy. That's not my name."

Despite the expression that IF held, Compa greeted her with a bright smile.

"Now we really look like a party! We'll be together forever. It's our pleasure to have you with us."

Forever? Shidou thought in confusion.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Wait, forever? No, just for now. As in, this dungeon."

"Bzzzt! We're already a party, so you can't get away from us even if you try." Neptune placed her hands on her hips and directed a heated glare towards IF. "Abandoning your party is against the rule of this world. You got that, missy?"

"There's a rule like that?" Shidou asked, a bit surprised at IF being stunned into silence.

"Oh, yes." Compa replied. "It's one of the teachings of Planeptune's Basilicom!"

"That's news to me, I think…"

"Really? I hear that it's common knowledge amongst the different land masses."

Shidou didn't really know what to say to that.

"Hey guys! Hurry up! The boss of this dungeon isn't going to kill itself you know!"

Further up ahead, Neptune lively swung her wooden sword and yelled animatedly.

"…Shidou. Make sure that idiot doesn't get herself killed."

"…right."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Anyway, only one character from Date A Live will appear physically in this story (as far as I have planned thus far). This world is also somewhat AU given how I'm going to modify how the guild and monsters work along with certain world building material. As for plot, it roughly follows the Re:birth events - and I say roughly since I'm liable to change things around with Shidou present.

If anyone is wondering as to what the pairings are, then look no further to the scene commonly present in Date A Live.

Updates are sporadic as always (especially since I don't have a laptop or PC of my own at the moment). That said, I've written out nearly all of the initial Planeptune arc, and the most likely reason why it won't be uploaded soon is due to either adding character development scenes or editing scenes I'm not particularly happy with.

As a final note, Merry Christmas to all!


	2. Sandalphon

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Date A Live or Hyperdimension Neptunia in any way.

* * *

"Pow! Feel the fury of my wooden blade!"

Yelling sound effects with every attack, Neptune cheerfully bounced around the battlefield. IF and Compa were located a fair distance back, handling another set of monsters so for the moment, Shidou was the only one with Neptune.

Despite IF's words, Neptune wasn't so incompetent that she could not handle monsters going her way. While there was no inherent skill in the way that Neptune wielded her wooden blade, Shidou could at least tell that there was power and experience in the way she fought.

…it still made Shidou wonder what the heck that wooden blade was made out of to endure Neptune's less than gentle way of using it.

"So your name is Shidou, right?" Neptune began, engaging Shidou in conversation just as he thrashed a Dogoo.

"As far as I know. If you're going to ask if I have a surname, then I'm afraid to tell you I don't remember."

"You don't remember?" Neptune asked curiously.

"Currently suffering amnesia actually. Ever since two years ago. The only thing I can recall is my name and not even all of it."

Shidou said those words with hardly any other meaning apart from what one would expect when speaking of a simple universal 'fact'. He could not recall anything from his past, apart from the name 'Shidou' – there wasn't even any guarantee it was his own instead of something that may have been someone else's. When he had come to after supposedly losing his memories, he did not have any identification with his clothing nor did he have anything else with him by that point.

It would be nice to remember what it was that he had lost, but while his current life wasn't by any means perfect, it was something he was happy with all the same.

"Wow, so it wouldn't be farfetched if we had some mysterious past together and we couldn't remember it, huh? It would be totally cool if you were my destined lover and we just can't remember it!"

"…"

More and more, Shidou was beginning to question the sanity of this purple haired preteen.

"Hmm… so it seems we'll be amnesiac buddies! Unless of course you want to be amnesiac lovers, but you still have to build some love points before I'm cool with that! But if either of us finds a clue that we're destined lovers, then let's skip all the details and go straight to marriage!"

Deciding to ignore the majority of her words, Shidou asked what was particularly bothering about the last sentence.

"Amnesiac buddies? Wait, you can't recall your past too?"

"Yup!" She said far too cheerfully for a subject so depressing. "Compa found me a few days ago, and my memory only really goes that far. So as my senior in this whole memory loss thing, do you have any advice?"

"Advice? Well, I'm a failure at that department." Shidou said, giving a wry smile. "I haven't recalled anything apart from these odd feelings that I might have done something similar before. On that end, I discovered a few days ago that I'm a pretty good cook."

"So you were a master chef at some point in the past?! Or maybe you were the son of a wandering chef but before he could enroll you into a culinary school, you were caught in a tragedy that had him thinking you were dead!"

At that moment, Shidou couldn't help but feel that he was the insane one with how in-sync her thoughts were to IF's earlier in the day… especially since he considered IF to be the epitome of sanity.

* * *

It didn't take long before the party finally reached what Neptune donned as the 'boss room'.

The 'room' was a large semi-spherical structure deep into the cavern with various railways leading to and from the room. Scattered haphazardly around the room, were the shattered remains of various mining implements ranging from minecarts to pickaxes. There were also traces of mined crystals that literally littered the cavern walls and gave a small amount of natural light.

At the center of the room, was the target IF and Shidou were tasked to eliminate – the Sandworm.

"It's gotten pretty large… I think this one is at least thrice as big as the Sandworm we encountered in Lowee." IF commented, her katars becoming visible from her sleeves.

"So what's the plan?" Shidou asked.

Before anything else could be said on the matter, a purple blur dashed forward.

"Ready or not monster, here I come! Taste the fury of my wooden sword!"

"Ah, Neptune! You shouldn't rush in without telling us!" Compa immediately followed suit and took out… a large syringe?

Shidou felt that he should always keep Compa within his immediate sight…

"Tch… Just prevent the other two from dying!"

"Right!"

Shidou hastily took out his great sword and after seeing Neptune get launched through the air, he leapt up in time just to catch her.

"I guess boss monsters really do pack a wallop…" Neptune muttered her head swaying from side to side and her eyes swirling.

"Are you alright? Can you stand?"

"Yeah, I can! What kind of main character will I be if something like that can take me out in one-hit?"

"Er… right. Do you have any other weapon? As great as that wooden sword looks, it's not exactly something you can use to take out a monster like that."

Shidou paused for a moment, before leaping backwards with Neptune as the sandworm barely misses its attack towards them.

"If I use my HDD, then I'd have a different weapon. But other than that, I've got nothing."

Shidou was really beginning to wonder how Neptune managed to convince Compa to go along with her into a dangerous cavern like this one.

"Here." Shidou said, handing Neptune a knife. "It's not much, but it's certainly better than your wooden sword, at any rate."

"Eehh… why don't you give me your great sword then?"

"…because you probably won't be able to lift it? Anyway, gather IF and Compa to decide a plan. I'll get the monster's attention."

Releasing Neptune to the floor, Shidou dashed forward to engage the Sandworm.

"IF, Compa, regroup!" Shidou yelled, brandishing his blade towards the Sandworm to get its attention. "I'll buy you guys some time!"

IF, who had been engaging the monster head on sent an incredulous look towards Shidou, before realizing that for a monster of this size, a strategy might be required.

"Alright. Don't bite off more than you can chew, Shidou! And don't use _that_ , alright?"

Nodding in affirmation, Shidou rolled to the side to avoid the coming attack before he delivered another attack and then backed out a fair distance.

It wasn't the first time that Shidou was relegated to distraction, but it was nonetheless rather nerve wrecking as this was a size too large than the situations he had dealt with in the past. There was also the thought that it wasn't only IF fighting with him, thus any mistakes would have a large effect towards party morale.

Shidou's blade was large enough to inflict sizable wounds towards the Sandworm, but the constant moving and the thick hide of Sandworm made it difficult to do any real damage. If he focused solely on attack, then there was a good chance he wouldn't be able to buy enough time for the trio to plan.

Still, if he did not inflict enough damage to be considered threatening, then the Sandworm might just decide to switch targets.

Using an arte in this situation might be justified –

Narrowly avoiding the Sandworm's tail, Shidou gathered energy with his blade and steadied his footing over the cavern floor. He gripped the sword with both hands, but in a way that seemed like he was pulling the large blade from a sheath. Motes of light began appearing by Shidou's great sword, lightly illuminating his position.

As soon as the blade's light reached a state bright enough for the sandworm to perceive it, Shidou's grip tightened.

But before he could release the energy, a sharp stab of pain entered his chest and the lights swirling around the great sword brightened considerably and began to shine more violently in comparison to the slow gathering of lights and low illumination from before.

This was a situation that Shidou feared might occur – if he continued, it was certain he would do a sizable amount of damage, but IF had forbade him from even considering the usage of _it_ even if it was a minute amount.

Clenching his teeth, Shidou quickly tried to control the energy flow, but that soon proved to be fruitless.

After all, there was no way he could release an arte after being sent flying by the Sandworm's attack.

* * *

A few moments earlier, Neptune, IF and Compa had gathered a large distance away from the ongoing fight that it was unlikely the Sandworm would change target during their impromptu planning session.

"So what's the plan? I don't think Shidou over there can last more than a few hits with how large that thing is…"

"And who's fault do you think that is?!" IF said heatedly before shaking her head to focus. "Anyway, I see that Shidou gave you his knife… you seriously didn't bring an actual weapon with you?! Even Compa here brought that monstrous syringe!"

"I-I'd like it if you didn't call my syringe monstrous, miss IF!"

"But we really didn't need any other weapon in the tutorial dungeon! We even managed to beat a Guard Vermin!"

"Guard Vermin, you two? How the heck is that possible?" IF stared incredulously at the two. No matter how IF looked at it, she found it unbelievable that the two in front of her had managed to take out a monster that would make her hesitate if she was to hunt it with Shidou.

"It was all thanks to Neptune! She transformed and managed to easily dispatch the Guard Vermin!"

"Transformed?"

"Yup! I'm super strong you know! Although I'd rather not use it, but if I have to, then I can deliver a can of ass-whopping and send that Sandworm back where it came from!"

As if accentuating those words, Shidou was sent flying towards their general direction, skidding to a stop right underneath the discussing trio. Naturally, that meant he could see right under Compa -

"K-kyaaah!"

"Gubeh?!"

Seeing the scene, IF placed a hand by the temple of her head as if massaging a headache.

"Looks like we're out of time." IF said shaking her head. "Neptune, you said you're the one that took out the Guard Vermin, right? Then do whatever you did to take that one out! We'll buy you time to get ready!"

IF hauled Shidou up to his feet, and despite the situation, he shook his head quickly and rushed into the fray with her. Compa quickly followed, using her large syringe to fire bullets towards the large Sandworm.

"So what's the plan, IF?" Shidou asked, avoiding an attack sent to him by the Sandworm.

"We couldn't devise one." IF admitted a bit bitterly. "But supposedly, Neptune has already taken out a Guard Vermin with the help of Compa so I'm hoping they'll be able to do the same here if we buy them some time."

"A Guard Vermin?!"

"I'm as surprised as you are." IF breathed out, defending from a body blow. "Anyway, look sharp!"

Shidou defended another blow, but before a follow up could occur, pink explosions vibrated above him. Looking back, it seems that Compa was providing him cover fire.

"Thanks!"

Despite the numerous cuts and punctures the monster has received from the three, the wounds were far from debilitating. Rather, it seems that each wound only made it more stronger as time passed by.

"IF, maybe I should…!" Shidou grunted after defending Compa from another attack.

"No! Just wait for Neptune! There's no need to risk it!" IF vehemently denied Shidou's suggestion before he could even complete it.

Before the tides of battle could completely change towards the monster's favor, a bright flash of light emitted behind the three, causing IF and Shidou to look behind to see what was happening.

Expecting to see the purple haired preteen, Shidou was surprised to find a woman that looked like a grown up Neptune. Furthermore, she was no longer wearing the same clothing as before, instead, she seemed to be wearing a futuristic black one-piece bathing suit but with sleeves that reached up to a pair of sharp gloves and an opening on her chest area that revealed a modest chest. Her hair had lengthened and was braided into two separate sets furthermore, her eyes held an eerily familiar pattern.

"You've bought enough time!" Neptune, at least Shidou thought she was Neptune, declared, her voice deeper and more confident than before. "Leave the rest to me!"

Flying, as the wing like appendages behind her seemed to allude to, she quickly shortened the distance between her and the Sandworm, delivering a large gash with her katana.

Unlike Shidou's feeble attempts to deliver damage with his great sword, the damage that the Sandworm received was greater from a single attack delivered by the purple haired woman. It simply showed a great degree of difference between strength that Shidou had not expected to find except when comparing the attacks of a human with the attacks of a CPU.

"Is that Neptune?" Shidou asked Compa.

"Yes! That's what she calls HDD. She used that form to take out the Guard Vermin!"

"Amazing…"

From there, the battle could be considered a one-sided slaughter with the Sandworm in the unfortunate end.

Not even a minute since Neptune had engaged the Sandworm, the monster was utterly beaten, collapsing to the floor of the cavern with a quaking thud. Despite being a monster however, it suddenly faded away into black mist, leaving behind a small fragment of what looked to be a golden shard.

Floating over to the fragment, Neptune directed an inquisitive stare at the object, unsure of what to make of it.

Compa quickly dashed over towards Neptune, observing the shard held within her hands.

"Is that a Key Fragment?"

"No… it doesn't seem to be." Neptune replied. "And we've already obtained the Key Fragment for this land mass."

"Wait, wait, Key Fragment?" IF interjected, walking over to the two. "HDD? What the heck is going on here?"

Before anything else could be said on the matter, a dark laughter echoed throughout the room. The shape of the room itself made it difficult to determine where the source of the laughter was coming from, and Shidou immediately tensed as his eyes scanned the room around.

"Th-that doesn't sound good…" Compa said, shivering.

From the corner of Shidou's eyes, he spotted a glimmer of purple miasma and upon turning, Shidou saw a lady wearing a dark purple get-up that isn't too different from what witches might wear during Halloween – if a bit more revealing at that.

Like Neptune, she held purple hair.

"Hahahaha! I've found you Neptune! I didn't think you actually fell to the world below!"

Shidou could unconsciously tell that whoever she was, she didn't come here for a simple greeting.

"A friend of yours?" IF asked, her own katars held firmly in her hands.

"Not that I can recall, unfortunately." Neptune replied, her grip of her katana not shifting. "I have no past memories to speak of apart from the time that Compa found me, which was a few days ago."

"Amnesia? Didn't think I'd find someone like Shidou again..."

"Eh? Mr. Shidou also suffers from amnesia?" Compa gave an inquisitive look towards the only male in the party.

"Still haven't recovered unfortunately." Shidou replied, walking closer to the party while keeping his eyes on the newcomer.

"Hm? So you're suffering from an affliction? No matter, it will make my job of eliminating you simpler!"

From her vantage point from above, the mysterious foe flew with alarming speed towards the party. Shidou immediately took point and dashed forward to the foe while IF followed closely after. Compa had similarly sensed that their foe wasn't there to talk and immediately began firing at the woman.

Shidou's blade made contact with the glaive held by the opponent, but he was quickly surprised when the force of the impact nearly sent him flying and the vibrations nearly numbed his hands. He would have been taken out then and there, if IF hadn't followed up quickly with quick jabs to temporarily send their foe in the defensive.

It didn't last long however, as five seconds in, she brandished her glaive and a shockwave sent IF flying towards Compa, knocking them to the floor.

"Kyaaah!"

"IF!"

"You're next boy!"

Shidou parried the coming blow with his great sword, but the attack finally numbed his hands and a second blow knocked it out of his grip, sending the blade careening through the air, landing several meters from his position.

A third blow would have fatally wounded him, but Neptune had quickly appeared before him, forcing the opponent back under a flurry of slashes.

"Are you alright, Shidou?"

"Y-yes. Thanks, you saved me."

Neptune gave a minute nod. Somehow, the disparity between this Neptune and the other Neptune was a bit unnerving. That said, this Neptune certainly gave a sense of reassurance in this otherwise hopeless scenario.

"Stay here, I'll settle things with her."

"What? Take her on, on your own? She took out IF and Compa with barely any effort!"

"And she would have done the same to you if I hadn't intervened." Neptune replied back calmly. "If you continue to fight, you'll only be a hindrance."

Shidou bit his lip to prevent any remarks from spilling out, his fist clenched in frustration.

Her words were on the mark. From what little he had observed during the fight with the Sandworm, only Neptune had a chance of engaging the foe before them. Even IF who had far more experience than he had was easily taken out, what chance did he have?

But Shidou questioned himself – why?

Why did Neptune's words carve a deep regret within him?

He had only met Neptune today, and apart from their small conversations, he really did not know her. His pride wasn't so large that he couldn't swallow help from someone like Neptune. In terms of combat strength, IF was – and still is better than he was. Her instincts were sharpened after years of questing on her own and he knew that he could not hope to match that experience in the short time they had together.

He hadn't thought of matching it at all.

Shidou simply wished to be useful to someone who had helped him.

Yes.

In the end, Shidou realized that the reason why he felt regret and frustration.

It was because he felt _useless_.

"Shidou."

A voice brought Shidou out of his thoughts. Upon looking at who had addressed him, any remnants of his previous mindset were washed away by worry.

"IF? Are you alright?"

IF's clothing was torn at several areas and she had a small cut by her cheeks, but was otherwise alright.

"Yes. A bit dizzy, but it doesn't mean I'm out of the fight. Here." She held out her hand. Shidou realized that it was the great sword that had been knocked out of his hands moments earlier. "The battle isn't over and even if that idiot Neptune thinks we're not going to help, then she has another thing coming."

"Yes. I wish to help too!" Compa's hair was a bit frazzled, but determination was shining through her eyes.

Grabbing hold of the great sword, Shidou belatedly realized that his hands were still a little numb from the confrontation moments earlier.

"Do you have a plan?"

"Yeah. Whoever our enemy is, she has a lot of power… but in terms of skill, she's quite lacking. It's the only reason why Neptune is able to keep up with her. Still, if this keeps up, Neptune might run out of stamina sooner rather than later – she took out a Sandworm nearly on her own after all and it doesn't seem like our opponent is going to run out of stamina any time soon with the way she keeps brandishing those shockwaves without any trouble…" IF's eyes were trained on the high speed battle taking place before the three, she shook her head minutely and directed her attention towards Shidou and Compa. "Now, here's the plan…"

* * *

"What's going on, Neptune? Where did your bravado go? Where did your confidence go? If you don't defeat me soon, you might just _die_."

Neptune avoided a thrust to her abdomen, she lashed out with her blade but her foe had immediately pulled back, shattering the floor beneath her.

Her instincts told her that her foe was just playing with her – it was because of that reason that she knew she had a chance in this battle.

Neptune hadn't gone all out, at least not completely. For victory to be grasped, she needed to find an opening that she could exploit. Her earlier attacks were meant to test out the opponent's guard and capability – and she grimaced minutely at the sheer power her foe held.

Nevertheless, it was not a power she could not overcome.

For Neptune to overcome her foe however, she needed to lure the opponent in a false sense of security and attack when she least expected it with her full force to prevent any form of come back. If that didn't work, then she and her companions would be doomed.

The mysterious woman burst forward with the same speed she had pulled back in, her form easily blurring. Neptune, despite not being able to see the attack completely, sidestepped. If her action had been a second later, she would have been pierced by the glaive that the woman held.

Neptune brandished her sword once more, only for it to be blocked by the woman. She had not expected anything less however, and quickly maneuvered her body around the coming attack. Without wasting any time after avoiding the blow, she kicked the woman to have a distance between them.

It was a foolish hope, as the woman quickly recovered mid-air, a result of being capable to fly.

Without pause, the woman rushed forward her glaive flashing through the air, forcing Neptune in the defensive from the attack.

She could not parry the attack – it would simply drain her strength faster. Blocking was beyond her after the first few hits, and despite her speed with the blade, the woman could react faster. Although she had not unleashed any of her skills, an instinct deep within Neptune could tell that it would most likely not work. The woman before her fought with reckless abandon – simply because the power she held gave her that ability.

There was no inherent skill with the power the woman used. Her movements would break the earth, her attacks with her weapon would cause the shockwave produced by the attack to impact nearby objects like razor wind. Even if the woman did not mean to, every movement was a danger that only added up to the sheer strength she held.

Neptune looked for every opportunity for the opening that she needed but every time she tested out an opening, it would be rebuffed with that unnatural strength. Despite the hopeless situation, the fact that the woman needed to defend meant that she was not the type that can shrug off hits. In other words, while her strength stat was at a point in comparable to anyone including Neptune's own strength, her defense must be low enough that someone like her could possibly pierce it.

Having this information however, was useless without a proper opening. Time was not on her side – she could feel her strength draining, and with it, any chance of making out of this engagement alive –

Then unexpectedly, just as the mysterious woman made to dash towards her again, several bullets impacted the ground before the woman forcing her back.

"Tch… I was willing to let them live, but it looks like you're really asking for you death, huh!"

The opponent switches attention and rushes towards the unprotected nurse, but before the mysterious woman's glaive could come crashing down towards Compa, Shidou appeared before her and used his great sword to shield the blow.

"Guhh!"

The single blow forced Shidou to his knees, while making the ground beneath him crack.

Shidou's bones would have fractured upon the strain if he had not used enchant magic to increase his strength and durability. Even then, Shidou had felt that his body would not be able to withstand another one of those attacks.

"You're getting on my nerves boy!"

Neptune made to move forward, but a flash of light from above catches her attention.

From the ceiling of the cavern, IF descends with blinding speed and before the mysterious woman could react, IF had wounded her foe's back

The foe had flinched, it was only a minor wound but in this battle it might as well be the one thing that would change the tides.

Neptune dashed forward, intent to take advantage of the opening –

"ENOUGH!"

"Gaaaah!"

""Kyaaah!""

In a blast of pure power, Shidou, Compa, and IF were blasted back from the mysterious woman as black miasma flowed violently around her. Neptune managed to retain her ground, but was nearly knocked to her back when she was forced to alter her balance to catch IF.

"I see that your companions are as much as an annoyance as you are, Neptune! Then far be it for me to spare them or you!"

A large concentration of power began to manifest at the tip of their foe's glaive, an energy that Neptune was eerily familiar with – despite seeing the attack for the first time, she instinctively knew that neither she nor her companions would survive an attack from that blow.

Neptune tried to move, but after feeling resistance, she looked below her to find what looked like several pale hands protruding from her own shadow grabbing hold of her foot. It was a scene that would more commonly be found in some sort of horror movie, but no matter how much she tried to convince herself, this was simply reality.

"This is…!"

"This is the end, Neptune!"

Thrusting her glaive forward, the malicious energy surged forth – Neptune closed her eyes and placed her blade before her in a feeble attempt to defend…

 _ **CRASH!**_

Waiting for a second and another, Neptune wondered why she hadn't felt any pain. If anything, she had not felt any resistance from her blade and its weight still remained the same. Then what…?

"What…? What is this?!"

Hearing the voice of their foe, Neptune cautiously opened her eyes.

Instead of seeing the shocked expression of the mysterious woman as her voice alluded to, Neptune was surprised to find a large golden brown structure obstructing her view.

"What…?"

Neptune did not know what to make of the structure in front of her. It was definitely not there moments ago, so who could have possibly set it up?

The sounds of footstep entered her ears and looking to her right she saw Shidou dashing towards her, and when she looked at his eyes…

His pupils had whitened and his normally dull brown pupils had brightened to an almost glowing amber color.

Without pausing Shidou leapt. Not towards her, Neptune realized, but to the top of the structure that was in front of her.

Looking up, she wondered why Shidou had leapt there of all places until she noticed that Shidou seemed to have grasped a black handle at the very top – and then he pulled.

"Lend me your strength…"

The black handle, as it turns out, was the handle to a large great sword sheathed within the golden brown structure before her. In comparison to the great sword that Shidou held earlier, this great sword was pure white with dark blue pulsing lines running through it. From where the black handle met the blade was a golden hilt and further above it, was a circular sphere that glowed with an ethereal blue light.

"… **Sandalphon**!"

It was a majestic sword like no other, and despite its size, Shidou held it in one hand.

The golden brown structure began to fade away once the blade was pulled out, and as if expecting it, Shidou leapt to the ground the moment his foothold began to disappear.

With the obstruction gone, Neptune could now see the wary form of the mysterious woman.

"That sword… who are you?"

Shidou did not reply towards the woman and instead placed his left foot forward and slid his other foot slightly back. His eyes were set in a glare towards his opponent, and the anger portrayed within his eyes only got hotter upon seeing IF's unconscious form.

"Neptune, if you managed to catch her with your blade, can you take her out in one blow?"

Unlike before, there was a slight change in tone that she used to address her. It wasn't confidence, but there was a purpose and drive within those words that made it all the more different from the tone that Shidou used to talk to her earlier.

"Yes. She was wounded by IF's katar, so if I get an opening, I can end it in one blow."

Shidou nodded minutely.

"Then I'll force one!"

In contrast to the earlier confrontation, Shidou rushed forward to their foe instead of waiting for the mysterious woman to close in. His speed was a notch faster compared to before, and the presence he held made it a case of something that should have been expected for someone like him.

"Rushing towards your death? I don't know what you did, but if that's what you seek – then I shall deliver!"

The mysterious foe met Shidou midway –

 _ **KLANG!**_

A large shockwave rocked the cavern, causing fragments of the stone ceiling to fall towards the floor. To Neptune and their foe's surprise however, Shidou had not been blown away by the attack nor did he fall to his knees at the strength the foe held. Inexplicably, he had not only met the attack head on, he managed to _force her back_.

"W-what?!"

Shocked at the turn of events, the mysterious woman leaped backwards in an attempt to recover from the attack. Although it was difficult to perceive, their opponent must have received some sort of damage from the clash earlier evident by the slight shaking the woman's hand went through.

Shidou made no attempt to pursue – instead, the edges of the great sword that he held began to glow a bright blue, easily illuminating the dim cavern. Power gathered, in a way that wasn't too different from the attack of the mysterious woman earlier, but there was no feeling of malice imbued into it.

It was simply power – an honest feeling no different from a pure desire.

Neptune lowered IF's unconscious form onto the floor. She had many questions in her mind, but thinking on it during the midst of battle would be foolish. Right now, the best option was to shelve any question she might have and to spot the oncoming opening. Her role was near, and she would not mess up!

The power that gathered within Shidou's blade was nearly blinding in its light. As if the brightness was the signal, Shidou raised the blade high above his head, and upon reaching its apex, he swung down with a mighty roar.

A blue shockwave erupted from the tip of the blade and tore through the cavern's floor and headed straight towards the mysterious woman. Their foe brought her glaive to defend, but it was one done out of desperation rather than that of a planned move. The speed was beyond what she had expected and defense was the reflexive action.

Neptune capitalized on it.

The ground cracked from where she originated, her speed reaching the fastest it has gone throughout this whole battle. Their foe noticed the movement, but she could do nothing to prevent the coming attack lest she wanted to be overwhelmed by the attack that Shidou had sent.

"This ends here! _**Cross Combination!**_ "

The katana that Neptune held did not hold any mystical properties that she was aware of, but it was a blade that could not be compared to any man crafted weapon. It was ordinary in its appearance, but its cutting strength and integrity was brought to the fore as Neptune tore through the opponent's guard with the first thrust and upon breaking through, she chained blindingly fast slashes that were without a doubt fatal wounds. The flurry of slashes ended after Neptune kicked the opponent into the air but only to send her crashing down with her blade.

With their foe losing strength due to the wounds, Shidou's follow up attack no longer met resistance and immediately pierced through their foe's body.

Despite the situation however, Neptune quickly moved towards Shidou's position intending to keep her guard up but upon doing so, a white light suddenly enveloped her.

"Aww… looks like I'm out of juice."

Shidou blinked at the sudden change as moments earlier, a more mature and serious version of Neptune was by his side, then the next second she was replaced by the Neptune that he had first met.

"So it looks like our victory, huh? With a combination attack like that, there's no way she can still be left standing! Unless of course she was a zombie all along – would make sense since she has that Goth theme going on."

Before Shidou could even attempt to formulate a reply to the lively Neptune's words, a groan echoed amongst the quickly settling dust caused by Shidou and Neptune's attack.

"No way, is she still alive after that? She must really be a zombie!"

Once the dust had settled, Shidou could only numbly agree with Neptune's assessment, as he raised his blade once again.

Despite the fatal injuries that were present on the woman's form, she had somehow stood up with the support of her glaive. She glared at them but did not move to attack.

"Damn it! You don't even look like you exercise, so why? Tch… I forgot, this is Planeptune… this is your home turf, Neptune." She spat blood, and a dark miasma began gathering below her feet. "Still… this wasn't a bad testing ground for that power. The next time we meet, do not think you'll make it out alive!"

The miasma covered their foe's entire body and once it faded away, there was no trace of the supposedly fatally injured woman.

"That was it?! She sure spouted lines like a villain from a B-Rated movie just before running!"

"We didn't even get her name." Shidou said, agreeing.

With the battle officially over, the sword held in Shidou's hands faded away into wisps of light. His eyes, just like Neptune upon returning to what Shidou deemed as her normal form, had also returned from bright amber to a dim brown color his iris similarly returned to normal.

"So what was that?" Neptune energetically asked, quickly approaching Shidou making the blue-haired boy take a hesitant step back. For someone who said that they ran out of juice, Neptune's disposition didn't seem to support her own words. "It's like you pulled out a legendary sword from out of nowhere! Are you a chosen one? Did you pull a sword out of a rock that marks you as a king of a desolate land? Or are you a legendary blacksmith that can make temporary swords out of thin air?"

Shidou was sure that many of those were references to various popular culture works, but he couldn't find it in him to reply with any form of coherence. So to save himself the trouble, he decided to change the subject.

"I'll talk about it later, we need to get out of here – I don't know about you, but I'm not quite confident with the caverns integrity after that clash with that woman."

"Yeah, it would suck to win but end up dying anyway due to something as lame as a cave-in. But you better not be changing the subject just because you're trying to keep that thing a secret! I want in!"

"…if there's anyone here with unexplained secrets, that would be you, Neptune."

Neptune however, was no longer paying attention and had gone to wake up Compa. Sighing, Shidou gently hefted up IF and began the process of rousing her.

"IF, wake up…"

Shidou's voice trailed off as a sharp pain assaulted his chest. A dizzying sensation similar to vertigo made itself known and not even a second after feeling it, his sight blacked out.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

For one, don't expect chapter sizes to be consistently this big. Sometimes it can be bigger, sometimes it can be smaller - it really depends on the scene being tackled.

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone! I mentioned in Chapter 1 that this will follow the Re:birth timeline, but I'm only following it loosely so the events that may happen, the way the world works and various other nuances might be different. For instance, in the battle above, you might notice Arfoire (and perhaps Neptune) to be much stronger (although really, they should be given their origins). More changes like that will be present in future chapters so don't be too alarmed.

As for the next chapter, it would most likely be the lead up to before the party moves to Lastation. No idea when the chapter would come up, but hopefully it's before February since I'll be busy from February onwards.


	3. Resolution for a New Quest

**Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own Date A Live or Hyperdimension Neptunia or its characters.**

* * *

" _You have heard it."_

Shidou was vaguely aware that he was dreaming again. The voice that had been a regular presence in his dreams was oddly clear and he had the distinct notion that it was possible to communicate now.

" _There are many things I wish to tell you. Yet at the same time, I feel guilty for dragging you into this. Your history, fraught with peril, was something that you did not regret. The results of your choices are without a doubt something you cherish."_

The voice of Histoire sounded melancholic, her words and tone causing Shidou's own heart to be plunged into confusion.

" _Indeed I had asked for your help, yet at the same time I wished that I did not need to."_

Shidou was not sure on what to say, but he eventually decided that being indecisive at this point after coming all the way to this point would have been foolish of him.

"…whatever it is that you need, I will surely try my best to grant it."

Shidou did not know Histoire at all – despite hearing her voice within his dreams, it did not mean that he knew who she was. He wasn't even aware of what she looked like; but despite his own lack of information regarding her, there was something about her that made Shidou feel a sense of nostalgia.

As if there was something shared between them that made their relationship more than strangers.

" _Thank you..."_

Whatever it was that Histoire would have said next was soon washed away by a growing and encompassing light.

* * *

The next time that Shidou regained consciousness, he almost wished he hadn't.

A nauseating pain assaulted his senses from nearly all over his body that it was easier to tell what part _didn't_ hurt. The pain nearly made Shidou throw up, but perhaps due to the passage of the day or the exertion that he went under before he fell unconscious; nothing came out from his attempts.

A small blessing under the misfortune he was feeling right now.

Apart from the overwhelming pain that his body was feeling to the point that he could barely feel anything else, Shidou could still tell that a weight was present by his chest… along with a moist humid feeling around that area.

…he certainly hoped that he wasn't bleeding.

Cautiously opening his eyes (something that Shidou was glad did not take much effort), the first thing he noticed was a mop of purple hair by his chest.

"N-Neptune…?"

Shidou's voice came out slightly cracked, his throat unusually parched.

How long had he been out?

Opting to wake the purple haired teen with his right hand (as while she looked cute sleeping on his chest - the drool wasn't exactly very comfortable nor very hygienic) he quickly realized that he couldn't move said hand.

It wasn't because of a sense of paralysis nor was it something as gruesome as having it amputated, but there was a sensation of warmth and resistance where his right hand was.

Shidou couldn't quite tell what was holding his hand down due to the pain, so tilting his head slightly to the side, the cause of his hands inability to move quickly became apparent.

IF, who had her head propped next to his sides, had held his right hand with both of her own.

At the sight, Shidou couldn't help but feel guilty at the amount of worry the two must have felt upon seeing him blackout.

Unsure of how to proceed from this point onwards, as shaking his body was just about impossible due to the immense pain his body was feeling – the door, to which Shidou realized was not the safehouse that he and IF had been sleeping at in the past few days (far too pink to be anything like the safehouse they used), swung open revealing the fourth member of the party.

"Y-yo…"

Shidou's words were more of a rough hacking cough than anything resembling a greeting.

He did not know what to expect after he uttered his greeting, but what Compa did next was not part of anything that ran through his mind.

Which was only natural as he didn't really know Compa too well.

"Mr. Shidou, you're finally awake!"

Tears cascading down her cheeks, she quickly moved forward to the side of Shidou's bed. Her exclamation had stirred the other two by his bed.

"Wa, waaa… what's going on, Compa?" Neptune muttered, wiping the drool out of her lips. "Is it breakfast, already?"

"Urgh… my back feels a bit stiff." IF muttered, looking hazily towards Compa who was hugging Shidou's head. "Compa you're going to suffocate hi-"

"M-morning, IF." Came the muffled voice of Shidou.

"Sh-Shidou?! Compa, get off of him!" Immediately standing up in attention, IF attempted to push Compa away and after a while, managed to actually succeed – but before she could get a good look at Shidou, Neptune had latched towards the blue-haired boy.

"Shin! You're awake!"

"S-Shin…?"

Despite the pain, Shidou gave a wry smile as everyone within the room fussed over him. He felt a bit bitter that he must have worried them quite a lot, but for now, he just let himself go with the flow.

The nickname given to him by Neptune was certainly new, but it felt like something he had heard from the past.

Once everything was done and over with, Shidou braced himself for impact…

"Didn't I tell you not to use _it_? I told you twice in the span of ten minutes and you didn't listen!"

"I'm sorry…"

"Sorry, doesn't cut it! You were lucky that Compa here is a nurse-in-training, otherwise who knows what would have happened!"

This had gone on for nearly half an hour and if Shidou wasn't in so much pain as of the moment, IF would have no doubt forced him to a seiza position as she lectured about why he had made a poor decision and the consequences of going through with said poor decision.

"Hey, Iffy… you told me that it wasn't that woman's fault that Shin ended up like this, but you never told me what made him like this."

Neptune inquired, after devouring a cup of pudding. She had just stayed by the sidelines, far too enraptured by the pudding she had gotten from somewhere to have contributed to the conversation before now.

IF sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"…it's something that I'm leery about telling anyone else." IF admitted.

"Hey, there's no need to keep secrets to yourselves! We're a party now, so secrets like that should have been thrown out the window the moment that you guys joined us! Unless of course you're one of those party members that ends up betraying us or dying because the plot demands it, but otherwise, you're with us forever!"

"Didn't I tell you it was you guys that joined us, not the other way around?! Ugh, whatever…" IF turned her attention back to Shidou, and for a moment, he thought that the lecturing was set to begin again. "It's your call. It's your secret after all."

Compa and Neptune directed their attention towards him and given the light shining in Neptune's eyes, Shidou knew it would be difficult to dissuade her from learning more about the thing that he did.

"Alright, it's not like I planned to keep it a secret after what happened there in the cavern…"

Shidou had no qualms about revealing his secret. It was something he had resolved once the situation demanded its use. And although he had only known of Neptune and Compa for less than a day (by his perspective anyway), Shidou was sure of their integrity and trustworthiness. It also helped that there was something about Neptune that made him feel reassured, especially in that other form she held during the battle.

"I had first accessed the blade, **Sandalphon** five months ago in the land of Leanbox." Shidou began. "But based on what IF and I had discovered, **Sandalphon** only became accessible to me after we defeated an Ice Titan in the land of Lowee as that monster, unlike other monsters, faded into light and dropped a purple colored crystal shard."

Normally, monsters don't fade away and drop items like those in video games. That particular memory was ingrained within Shidou and IF's mind simply due to how oddly powerful the Ice Titan was and the event that occurred after its defeat.

"Crystal shard?" Upon hearing that term, Neptune perked up and began rummaging within the pockets of her hoodie. And after a while, took out a golden colored crystal shard no bigger than the size of her thumb in length and more than half of that in width. "Like this?"

"Y-yes." Shidou was just as surprised as IF upon seeing the shard. Although now that he thought about it, that shard was what had appeared after they defeated the Sandworm.

"So how do you use this to get a power up? I mean, as nice looking as it is, it's not that good of a light source." Neptune said, looking intently at the dimly glowing crystal.

"Er… that's the thing. IF and I don't exactly know. When IF took hold of the crystal, there was nothing of note apart from the warmth that the crystal emanated. But the moment she gave it to me, the crystal melted into my hands as if it was water seeping into a drain."

"Is that so?" Neptune squinted hard at the crystal and inexplicably, "Here, catch." She threw it to Shidou.

"Wha-" Hastily moving to get his hands into position, the crystal bounced once into Shidou's open palm before the shard seemingly melted into his hands in a way reminiscent of snow melting into water. But unlike the phenomenon of snow melting, there was no trace that the shard had ever existed within Shidou's open palm. The only indication that something had ever been there was the odd sense of discrepancy that Shidou felt once the crystal had faded away.

"Huh… figured it was a character specific upgrade." Neptune said, disappointed.

"Hey, give a warning when you're going to do that alright? Who knows what might have happened!" IF said, heatedly.

"Eh, it turned out alright, right? Anyway, Shin, did you receive another cool upgrade? What is it?"

"I… I don't know." Shidou admitted after a moment of considering it. "I didn't know of **Sandalphon** , until after I manifested it and called out its name. I probably wouldn't know what this one does – if anything – until I call upon its name."

"So it's something gives you power as the plot demands it? As expected of a harem protagonist." Neptune said nodding to herself, as if it explained everything.

"H-harem protagonist?"

"A-Anyway, Mr. Shidou, if **Sandalphon** is the blade that Neptune said allowed you to match up to the enemy we fought in the caverns, why did you end up being so injured?"

"We're not entirely sure if this is true or not," Shidou began taking a glance at IF who merely shrugged. "But it was **Sandalphon** that caused damage to me."

"Caused damage to you…?"

Compa was utterly dumbfounded by those words.

Neptune must have already said to Compa that it was due to the blade that allowed Shidou to not only fight in equal terms with the mysterious woman, but to also provide the necessary opening that allowed Neptune to end the battle. Hearing of the weapon that had tilted the scales to their victory to be the one that had sent Shidou into a short coma sent an unpleasant feeling run down her spine.

"I'm not sure if it is because of my inexperience in using it, but using the power that **Sandalphon** grants me seems to cause great pain every time I swing it. It's like my muscles would spontaneously tear itself apart at its inability to handle the stress…"

In the two times that Shidou had summoned the sword, each swing felt like it chipped away at his life bit by bit. The unexplainable pain that would erupt as energy gathers and expels from the sword had encapsulated him with a primal fear as he was not sure what part of his body would receive damage if he swung the sword again.

It felt too much like he was playing a game of chance, where a 'lucky' event would be receiving an injury that wasn't fatal and while being 'lucky' is a common event, being unlucky even once would be the last and only time he would encounter such an event.

Nevertheless, despite the pain, Shidou felt he would have still been able to withstand swinging the blade a few more times. If there was anything that he had going for him, was that he had an abnormally high pain tolerance.

Even now, although his body was still aching, if the situation called for it, Shidou would still be able to stand up and swing a sword about. It also helped that Sandalphon seemed to empower him every time he held it.

"I see, so it's like your special move uses your HP instead of your special attack gauge!" Neptune devolved into using video game terms, but Shidou didn't bother correcting her as she was on the spot at that one. "But, Shin… if that's true, then please don't use it unless there's no other choice alright? I mean, as heroic as it was that you would throw your body into the fire to save little ol' me, it would be a bitter sweet ending if you end up dying for me! As romantic as that is…"

Neptune held her cheeks with a light blush, which for reasons Shidou wasn't exactly privy too, made IF gnash her teeth in anger.

"R-right… I'll be careful next time." Shidou replied with a hesitant smile.

"By the way, Neptune." IF began, after finally reigning in whatever it was that was angering her. "What did you do back there?"

"Oh, you're talking about my HDD?" Neptune puffed up her non-existent chest with a less than modest expression. "Pretty awesome, huh."

"As much as I regret saying so, you were extremely helpful with that 'HDD' of yours. So what is it?"

"I don't know."

"Pardon me?"

"When Compa and I were taking down the Guard Vermin, Histy came up and told me I can access it! She went and explained it just like those mentors that you either fight in an epic climax or end up saving because all they can do at that moment is give ghostly advices."

"Histy?" When Shidou mouthed out those words, he had a distinct feeling as if he had heard the name before. "Do you mean… Histoire?"

"Yeah! Wait, how do you know that name? Do you have ESP too? Or maybe we have a telepathic link that allows you to read my thoughts… hmm, it should be two way, right? So…" Neptune squinted her eyes at Shidou, a look of intense concentration entering her face before it faded to one of understanding. "Nope. I got nothing."

IF had been ready to throw Neptune's explanation out of the window and ask Compa for clarification, but after hearing Shidou's interjection, she had turned her attention towards her partner.

"Do you know of her?"

"More like I got her name the last time I had fallen asleep." Shidou said. "Somehow, my words finally got through and she answered… all this time however, she had been asking for my help. But I had no idea how to begin or what she wanted help from."

A reoccurring dream that had the same content – that was what Shidou had experienced in increasing occurrence ever since he had touched the crystal that had been dropped by the Ice Titan. At first, he could not recall what the contents were; only that it made him feel apprehensive as if there was something important that he had forgotten, but frequently having the same dream eventually imprinted itself into his memories. That even if the contents within the memory were to be diminished, he would still be able to fill the gaps.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that he had memorized what Histoire had been saying all this time.

But because he had, he felt all the more guilty that he couldn't help. He felt more and more restless as the dreams occurred in greater frequency that, to keep his mind off of it, he immersed himself in whatever task was in front of him. For if he was left with nothing to do, he would simply dwell with the contents of the dream he could do nothing about.

Thankfully however, his recent dream had at least made it possible to reliably communicate with Histoire instead of being unable to reply to her pleas.

IF, noticing Shidou's expression, gave a sigh.

"So what did this 'Histy' person say to you? And back then, you mentioned something about a key fragment, what is that about?" IF asked, deciding to fish for more information before deciding on a course of action.

"Histy said she's locked up somewhere." Neptune said, shrugging. "She said that she needs four key fragments, one on each landmass to be set free."

"And you believed her?"

"Well there's no guarantee she's some evil fairy that's actually leading us to releasing her master to ravage multiple different universes, but it's not like you can't say she's not just some damsel in distress, right?"

"So you'll confirm it with your own eyes? That's actually pretty sensible of you."

Was IF's evaluation of the girl that low?

"What do you mean by that? I'm plenty sensible!"

"Who in their right mind would bring a wooden sword to a boss fight?! If you didn't have HDD, you would have been eaten alive and the worst you'd give that sandworm is a case of splinters!"

"It can't be helped; none of the NPCs are selling any weapons for me!"

"What, how can that be –"

"It's true Miss IF, lately due to the rampant monster destruction in Planeptune, there have been less capable people to smith weapons like swords. Healing materials are abundant, but that's only because most nurses or doctors are either holed up in their homes or were eaten by the monsters."

To IF's surprise however, Compa supported Neptune's words.

Shidou did not know much about the troubles that Planeptune was facing despite having supposedly originated from the land mass. Apart from the time he had been picked up by IF, he had not been to Planeptune until the week they were tasked to hunt the sandworm. Given that they still had supplies they had bought from the other landmasses, they had not bothered entering any shops.

Perhaps if they had eaten in a local shop, they may have obtained some information to know how badly things are going in Planeptune, but because they had not, IF and Shidou could only know about the true extent of what's going on from Compa's words.

"What is the CPU, doing?" IF finally said after a moment of stunned silence. "I've heard that the other CPUs have appeared in their respective Basilicoms, but I haven't heard anything of the CPU of Planeptune."

CPU, otherwise known as 'Console Patron Unit', is the designation of the goddess that rules over a specific landmass. The CPUs main task is to protect the citizen of their respective landmass as to maintain their faith towards them. As the faith of the people towards a CPU strengthens the CPU, conflict between the four nations was common – until recently that is.

You couldn't exactly wage war when your people were busy getting eaten, right?

It was for that matter that a truce had been built five years ago to deal with the monster threat. Yet despite that, the monster threat had only grown worse and various factions had made a living hunting monsters.

From what Shidou could remember of IF's initial teachings, Planeptune was under the guidance of the CPU, Purple Heart. Unlike the CPU of the other four nations, Purple Heart had not been seen for over three years. There were even doubts that she had left Celestia, the land that CPUs originated from.

"I'm afraid we don't know anything either, Miss IF." Compa said, a bit disheartened.

When Shidou turned his attention towards Neptune, she had said exactly what he was expecting to say.

"No idea!"

…Shidou felt that he was getting far too good at reading Neptune for someone whom he had just met.

IF soon began discussing the current state of affairs with Compa along with confirmation from Neptune's story regarding the key fragments. With the length of the discussion, the pair had decided to move towards the kitchen… of Compa's house (which in hindsight, sort of made sense given how pink the room was and that, apart from a hospital, had materials for healing). Neptune on the other hand had decided to go buy pudding after realizing that Compa's fridge was now out of it.

…there should be a limit at how 'at home' one should feel, right?

While the pain that Shidou felt wasn't to the point of crippling, it was still to the extent that he felt like vomiting if he caused any more pain by carelessly moving his body. The muscles itself were unnecessarily stiff and it also felt like his flexibility was quite limited.

It wasn't anything unexpected, but for the point of recovery, Shidou was confined to a bed for the duration of his stay in Compa's house.

Surprisingly, it only took Shidou two whole days to wake up after being incapacitated, but it took three more days before he had recovered enough to walk with his own strength. In a sense, the injuries he received were closer to the unlucky spectrum than the lucky side of things for him to be bed ridden that long. The first time he had used **Sandalphon** had left him unconscious for only three days but he was capable of moving on his own once he had woken up.

Perhaps it was the difference in treatment? Shidou had been treated in a hospital after the first time he had used **Sandalphon** , but in this instance he had been treated by Compa.

…not that he was ungrateful or anything, given the situation that Planeptune was facing as of the moment, Compa was the next best option.

Nevertheless, it was a bit disheartening that he was the sole reason why no progress could be made to move onto another landmass to search for the Key Fragments, but the others reassured him that if it weren't for him, they probably wouldn't have survived the encounter with the mysterious woman.

The Key Fragments… after hearing of Neptune and Compa's quest, Shidou had been all for joining the cause. At first, Shidou had thought that IF would have been against it as long term quests with no guaranteed benefits were something they had rarely (if ever) taken. Surprisingly however, IF had agreed the next time that she had come back with Neptune and Compa after accomplishing a request from the Basilicom while he was bed ridden, a day after he woke up.

She had also pointed out that she had already seen the glint within Shidou's eyes upon hearing of the name 'Histoire' so she could only reluctantly tag along.

It made Shidou's worries float away – he didn't want to part with IF if he could help it. Still, there was the fact that IF was being pulled along by Shidou's own selfishness…

"Oh, Mr. Shidou – are you fit enough to be up already?"

Upon stepping into the kitchen of Compa's home after the fourth day of being stuck in said house, Shidou was greeted with the sight of Compa donning her apron. A little bit over to the side was Shidou's apron folded neatly by the table.

"Well enough to move around the house, I think." Shidou replied with a hesitant smile. "Although as much as it pains me to admit, I probably won't be fit enough to fight until tomorrow."

"You shouldn't worry too much Mr. Shidou. We are all grateful with what you did. So there's no need to beat yourself up over it. Rather, if I was more competent, you wouldn't have been bedridden for so long…"

Hearing that, Shidou felt that he had stepped on a landmine.

"N-no, Ms. Compa you have nothing to blame yourself for! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be alive right now!"

It took several more exchanges before the pair could realize that they were essentially trading roles of self-depreciation, and before they knew it, they were laughing.

"You're a really humble person aren't you, Mr. Shidou." Compa remarked with a smile that was no longer as hesitant as before.

"And you're an extremely kind person, Ms. Compa."

"That may be the case, but for your continued recovery, please return to your bed."

Shidou however, did not want to return to bed. It had been enough that for the past few days, the only times he wasn't on the bed was when he went to the restroom, and now that he could move his limbs more freely, he wished to be away from the bed for at least longer than a couple of minutes.

There was also the fact that he was sleeping in a girl's room…

"Can't I at least help out for lunch?"

Compa gave Shidou a mildly confused look.

"You know how to cook?"

"That apron by the table is mine, if you hadn't asked IF about it."

Compa was initially hesitant, but once Shidou began cooking up a dish, any of her hesitation was thrown away in favor of her own curiosity with the way Shidou cooked.

Compa had been living on her own for quite some time now; unless she wanted to spend money for fast food every day then it would be cheaper to produce her own food from the kitchen. It was also advocated by those in the nursing school that a good nurse should know how to cook…

It was to that end that she was confident with her own cooking ability.

Watching Shidou prepare food however, made her suddenly feel a bit inadequate. It also didn't help that for some reason, Shidou looked quite natural with an apron over his short sleeved unbuttoned blue polo over a black short sleeved shirt and black pants…

"By the way, where's IF and Neptune?"

Given how much focus Compa was giving Shidou's cooking, it took her a while for her to reply to Shidou's question.

"T-they were out looking for a new sword for NepNep. Miss IF said that the knife you gave Neptune was already beginning to chip and a wooden sword wouldn't be of any help in the future."

"…I'm still surprised you manage to beat a Guard Vermin with Neptune wielding a wooden sword."

Although now that Shidou thought about it, when Neptune entered HDD her weapon seemed to change to a black katana. He hadn't had a good look at the weapon, but seeing as how it had easily cut up the sandworm; it would certainly be leagues stronger than his own great sword.

Within minutes, Shidou had prepared oyakodon.

…at least, that's what Shidou called the meal he had made. It was the first time that Compa had ever seen such a meal in Planeptune.

"Is this a delicacy from another land mass, Mr. Shidou?"

"Delicacy? Hmm… I'm not actually sure. It might have been from Lastation, but I've only ever been in Leanbox and Lowee."

"Have you tasted this sort of food before?"

"…you make it sound like I don't know what I'm making. Why don't you taste it? Even though I only started cooking a week ago, I have confidence with my skills."

Those words did not exactly fill anyone who heard it any form of reassurance, but Compa gave a strained smile as she took a knife and fork to cut the cutlets so that she could taste it.

"…!"

Daintily putting her hands to her lips, a combination of flavors that she was not quite familiar with assaulted her taste buds. It was not unpleasant to say the least, and it was definitely something that spoke of experience in the kitchen rather than a beginner's luck.

"So how is it?"

Compa did not reply right away. She placed her utensils down slowly by the table, and turned to Shidou.

A strange glint was showing within her eyes that nearly made Shidou back up out of trepidation. Before he could do more than make a small squeak from his lips, Compa had grabbed his right hand with both of her hands and directed a glare that wasn't quite a glare towards him. Her expression was so serious, that if Shidou had known her for a longer amount of time, would make him think that this was quite out of character for her.

"Mr. Shidou."

"Y-yes…?"

Shidou could vaguely hear the front door open and the distinct sound of Neptune crying out 'I'm home' echo through the home of the girl in front of him, but he found it hard to focus on those details as Compa leaned slightly forward making the veritable mounds of flesh to become more visible within his line of sight. It was hard to decide where to keep his eyes at, as if he focused towards Compa's face, he felt like he would soon be devoured in a way that wasn't too different from a tiger pouncing towards a deer. If he looked lower than that, it wouldn't be wrong to label him as some sort of pervert.

The close proximity that Shidou had with Compa also allowed a sweet fruity fragrance to waft into Shidou's nose, making him feel a tad bit light headed and his cheeks to redden.

Despite living with IF for more than a year, he hadn't felt this form of nervousness with the opposite sex. It was more than likely due to getting used to IF's presence and that, at first, he had less interest with those kinds of things as he had more pressing issues to deal with – like his absent memories for instance. Neptune on the other hand felt more like a child and it also helped she looked like a child as well so it was harder to see her as someone of the opposite sex (although it was a different story for her transformed form).

Compa was neither of those two, and perhaps due to the situation, Shidou realized he had no idea how to tread forward. He would have probably treated Compa rather normally, but the situation he was currently in brought about thoughts that normally didn't enter his mind when interacting with girls.

Things like the smell, the way they dressed, the way their skin felt and various other nuances that he paid little attention before were now in the forefront of his thoughts and running at a speed that felt like it would make his mind overheat if it kept going.

"Compa? Have you seen Shidou? He's not on his be-"

Vaguely, Shidou could have sworn he heard the sound of glass shattering. Mechanically tilting his head towards the doorway, all color had been drained from IF's form as she stood wide eyed and slack jawed from the scene unfolding before her.

"I-IF?! Uh, t-this isn't what it looks like!"

What did the scene before IF look like anyway?

Compa was holding onto Shidou's right hand softly yet firmly, and her eyes looked straight at Shidou's form with unyielding determination. This was certainly an out of character moment for the cheerful but soft spoken nurse in training, and it made one wonder why she would do such a bold action.

Perhaps due to the possibilities that the position they're at alluded to, Shidou felt a distinct chill that said his life was in danger.

"So what does it look like huh, _Shidou_?"

"P-please don't say my name with such venom! And don't take out your katars! Also, Miss Compa, why are you holding onto my hands?!"

"Mr. Shidou."

"Y-yes?"

"Would you be…"

Shidou swallowed heavily, unsure of what Compa could possibly be asking. A hint of red had made it to her cheeks, but her eyes were still alit with that same determination ever since she had tasted his food.

What could it be that she was asking for?

Whatever it was that this scene might hint to, nothing was registering within Shidou's mind apart from the increasing killing intent that was coming out of IF's no doubt irritated form and the fruity scent that came from Compa's hair…

"Would you please be my rival for cooking?"

"…huh?"

"Eh?"

A dull silence echoed within the kitchen as Shidou and IF's mind grounded into a halt. The silence was only broken when, from behind IF, Neptune entered carrying a sword longer than she was tall.

"Hey Iffy, did you find Shin? I want to show him my cool new swor- Eh? Eh? Did something interesting happen while I was gone? Come on, let me join in!"

It took a while before things could become orderly again.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Uploaded a bit earlier than I expected, but given that my job is set to begin a week earlier than planned, it couldn't be helped...

No idea when the next chapter will come seeing as I have to do some more editing with what I've already written (I've done about 60% of the initial Lastation visit already) and I doubt I'll have enough time for that in February since I need to first get acclimated to work.

As a repeat for those who are curious about pairings - it's generally the same situation as that of Date A Live. Those who know the light novel would generally know what I mean by that. That said, pairings are not the main focus of this story especially this early on. There would be ship teases every now and then, but that's the most you will get for the time being. Though that'll probably be thrown to the wayside should the plot develop in a tangent I had not planned (seriously, sometimes this story writes itself...).

Anyway, if you have any concerns regarding the story do tell me. Be it grammatical, or plot wise, I'll be interested to hear what you have to say so I can improve as a writer. That said, there's no guarantee I will do what you guys tell me, and my reply might either come from a very late PM (if I don't reply right away) or when the next chapter comes. In regards to plot talks however, please understand that I won't spoil things that will be tackled in the future. If something is confusing, I might clarify it but if I purposely had that in mind, then chances are it would be elaborated later on.


	4. Lastation - the Land of Black Regality

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Date A Live or Hyperdimension Neptunia.

Many thanks to all those who have reviewed. It's probably because of that, that this chapter came out earlier than I had planned.

* * *

"So we're finally moving to the next area, huh? Oh! The ground is split here! Did this happen in some great war long, long ago?"

Shidou gave a wry smile seeing Neptune scour the location like a child in a sugar rush.

"I betcha it was a totally crazy, epic war between some profound sort of darkness and a really great light!"

IF looked like she was at the end of her wit and gave a long suffering sigh.

Was she really that bad? Shidou couldn't quite tell since he had been bedridden during the times the trio were out doing requests from the Basilicom. That said, it seemed that Neptune and Compa were fairly competent enough that IF hadn't gone about scolding them or holding one of her famous lectures.

Or maybe it happened when he wasn't present?

Shidou liked to think he wasn't that incompetent as an adventurer after a whole year being one.

"…what's she babbling about now?"

"I'm sorry. Please be patient with her. She really doesn't remember anything… I think."

With sweat trailing down her cheeks, Compa apologized in place of Neptune.

…but was this really a result of amnesia? At the rate this was going, Shidou might start believing that he might have been some irredeemable pervert in the past that picked up ladies left and right that included those of the same gender.

"Compa, you're scaring him."

"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Shidou! I forgot that you were an amnesiac too!"

Bowing her head to Shidou, the latter scratched his cheeks in embarrassment.

"…t-that aside, how long have you known Neptune, Ms. Compa? Did you know her before she lost her memories?"

"I've only known NepNep for a few days." Compa said. "I found her stuck head first in the ground so I pulled her out and treated her wounds."

"You… pulled her out of the ground?" A look of horror entered IF's face, one that made Shidou wonder what the heck she was thinking of. "So Neptunes grow in the ground here? How can I believe that?"

…Neptunes? Growing out of the ground?

Shidou turned his attention to said purple haired preteen bouncing around looking at the gap between landmasses energetically.

Even with his brief knowledge of the purple haired preteen, Shidou didn't think the world could handle more than one Neptune…

"Well, yes, but not from the ground. She fell from the sky Miss IF. By the way, how did you find Mr. Shidou?"

"…if you're asking if he fell from the sky or if I pulled him out of the ground, then you're sadly mistaken."

If all amnesiacs were found in some over the top way, it would be easy to identify who had amnesia, and where they first appeared. Rather, forget about amnesia – people found that way would be more likely to have some sort of brain damage!

"Oh, it's been bugging me for a while, but you call me 'Miss.' You don't have to be so formal but…"

Now that Shidou thought about it, this was a familiar conversation.

Familiar in the sense that he recalled IF saying the same words, but to him of the past…

" _My name is IF. Not If, but I-F, okay?"_

" _Understood, Miss IF."_

 _IF gave a slight frown before shaking her head._

" _What's your name?"_

" _Shidou."_

 _He had no idea what else he should say. This had been the first person that had interacted with him for this long._

" _Just Shidou?"_

" _It's the only one I know, Miss IF._

 _He tried to be polite, but somehow his words only seemed to irritate the young girl before him._

" _It's been bugging me for a while now, but you call me 'Miss.' You don't have to be so formal –"_

Shidou wasn't sure what it was that made IF come into contact with him, when everyone around him at that time was content to ignore him, and even now, he never bothered to find out. It wasn't because he was afraid of what the answer might be, far from it.

He simply wasn't interested on what the answer was.

Even in the present, when he was a lot more impressionable than the self that had just lost his memories; he had little care for what the answer may be.

"-dou! Hey, Shidou!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry I was lost in my thoughts. What is it IF?"

"Neptune and Compa have already crossed the bridge. If we don't go soon, I'm not sure where Neptune will end up."

Nodding with a small smile, Shidou followed through the bridge to Lastation.

* * *

Lastation – the land of black regality was under the rule of the CPU Black Heart.

Each landmass has a specific theme regarding how the structures were made and how the cities or towns were designed. This made it so that by entering another landmass, it wouldn't be wrong to say that they had entered a completely different side of the world. While Shidou had never been to Lastation except in passing through it to go to another landmass, the design was as distinct as comparing Planeptune with Leanbox.

"Wow, this place is all steampunky and spiffy and futuristic! Iffy, which landmass is this?"

"Neptune… did you pay attention to the Basilicom when they let us pass through the terraporter?" Shidou couldn't help but mouthed out exasperatedly.

"Yeah, but what he said wasn't too interesting…"

"…I can already imagine what your teachers might have said when you're in class. Anyway, this is the Land of Black Regality – Lastation, ruled by the Console Patron Unit Black Heart."

Despite its name however, Shidou couldn't quite see the regality of the place. The air looked as if every vehicle within the land violated some law on car emissions to make it smell and look like a fog was floating all over the place.

Had Lastation always been like this? Shidou was expecting something less… smoky.

Despite the fog and smell of the place, it was also uncharacteristically cold. Was winter approaching already? Or was this the result of the landmass being near Lowee? Planeptune was often times completely blocked off from Lowee by the other landmasses making it generally warm or cool almost all year round.

"Hey, Shin. I was just wondering… does the way each landmass look have anything to do with their goddesses' preference?"

Shidou wasn't quite sure how to answer that and gave an inquisitive look towards IF.

IF crossed her arms and thought on the question for a bit. IF certainly knew a lot of information due to her time wandering before she met with Shidou, but this was mostly in relations to her occupation as an adventurer and whatever she felt like researching at that time.

Since IF had rarely been to Lastation, her own information regarding the issued question was sorely lacking.

"I don't think so." IF finally said. "The CPUs are here to protect us, but humans develop the civilization itself."

"…I can tell that the people here must be a lot of fun then."

Oddly enough, Shidou couldn't help but feel that he and Neptune were in the same wavelength.

"So the title of 'Land of Black Regality', talks about the CPU, not the landmass?" Shidou asked.

"Not quite. It must have been something regal back in the past, or it could just be judgment based on the eyes of the beholder. What about you Compa? What do you think of this place?"

Compa had been looking around just as curiously as Neptune before IF had asked her a question. Was this her first time out of Planeptune? Then again, the recent times have supposedly seen a rise in monster attacks so Shidou supposed it would actually be rarer to find someone who has gone through all four landmass.

"These factories and chimneys… remind me of an industrial revolution. I'm not familiar with this kind of thing."

"I suppose it's not appealing to mainstream kind of girls. I think it's cool." IF admitted with a shrug. "So what should we do now?"

For Shidou's part, he could freely say that he was the most comfortable around Planeptune. Perhaps it may be due to the landmass he supposedly originated from, but he had a fair bit more familiarity with the abundant advanced technologies present in the land of Purple Progress.

"Let's head over to the Basilicom." Shidou suggested. "Since we're looking for the key fragment, we can ask the Basilicom if they know of any abnormally strong monsters. They're the ones that manage the landmass, right? So they should know something so we can narrow down the locations we need to explore."

"Hey Iffy, we've been walking for a while now, but are we near the Basilicom yet?"

"…that's odd, but I was sure that the Basilicom is this way." IF said, scratching her head in confusion. Taking out her phone, she began to look up a map of the Basilicom.

IF had been to Lastation a few times before she had picked up Shidou as her partner, and while the buildings did not look too different from her memories, it seems that some things still had changed.

"Why don't we ask the people around here?" Compa suggested. "Although… hopefully someone who doesn't seem so hostile."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they were either mindless minions or heartless businessmen with the way they wore all black and have that same 'would it kill you to smile' face."

"Well, the Basilicom is bound to be different, right?" Shidou said a bit optimistically. "I mean, they serve the goddess so they should at least be a bit more accommodating than the local populace…"

"You know, you just raised a flag there, right?"

"Oh, there's someone over there that doesn't look like a businessman, Mr. Shidou!" Compa suddenly piped up preventing Shidou from commenting on Neptune's words.

Sure enough, from across the street, there was a red-haired woman that wore a blue long-sleeved vest that, alongside the shirt she wore with it, did not cover her waist. She also wore a blue and white skirt that was a few inches below her hips - this would have shown quite a lot of skin if her black socks did not reach up just a few inches below it.

The way that the young woman held herself however was what struck Shidou the most however. He had seen his fair share of adventurers during his time venturing the landmasses with IF, and it was clear that the young woman had experience going for her.

"I'll call out to her." Shidou volunteered, running up to the young woman. "Excuse me!"

"Hm?" The young woman turned around, to face Shidou then, for reasons unknown to the blue-haired boy, her eyes widened in surprise. "You - ! What are you doing here?!"

"Eh?"

"Uh, er – I- I must have mistaken you for someone else! Please don't mind my earlier outburst!"

"I-is that so? I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could tell us where the central Basilicom is."

"Us?"

The young woman turned to look behind Shidou, quickly spotting the forms of IF, Compa and Neptune. It was hard to miss the three girls as they stood out like a sore thumb in comparison to the rather uniform color that those who were walking about wore.

"Those must be…" A look of realization seemed to pass by the young woman's expression before she shook her head and faced Shidou once again. "Right, if you wish to head to the Basilicom, I suggest that you take a right turn from that street. From there, it's pretty straightforward and after a couple of minutes walking, you'll see the Basilicom."

"Thank you!"

Once Shidou turned and left, the red-haired adventurer gave a soft sigh. Her eyes reflecting a strange almost wistful emotion as she watched the blue-haired boy speak to his companions.

"To think I would see him here... is the world laughing at me?"

With those strange words, the red-hared adventurer shook her head lightly and went off to a different direction.

* * *

The party was now at the edge of a dungeon in Lastation looking for a lost child for their new client, Chian. Perhaps due to the recession that Lastation was apparently feeling, the reward of the quest was not particularly comparable to a quest that is easier to do in Planeptune.

There were others that provided quests, but once Neptune had found out that Avenir, the local business giant monopolizing almost all forms of services in Lastation, were the quest providers, she had been adamantly against it. Shidou had also supported Neptune's words simply due to the built up stress that had accumulated at the 'interaction' done with those who worked for Avenir. IF had at least managed to convince them to reconsider for at least one quest.

Surprisingly, the people in the Basilicom had ties to the company Avenir – which had resulted into a conversation that only proved IF's words regarding Shidou's optimism…

"Um. 'scuse me! I wanna get some info on monsters. May I come in?"

Neptune had barged into the Basilicom after saying those words with what one would call an outdoor voice.

"Neptune… you don't say that if you've already entered the room." IF said, smacking a palm to her face.

"Monsters? What are you going to do with that information?"

The staff by the desk of the Basilicom wore a black suit reminiscent of many of the people that the party had passed by and given Shidou's experience with the local populace, even he began to feel that his words were beginning to sound as blind optimism. It didn't help that the tone of voice wasn't exactly courteous…

Maybe he was just out of coffee?

"We're searching for an item called a Key Fragment," Compa explains. "We must defeat strong monsters to get one."

It was the only real clue they had at any rate. Shidou hadn't been able to come into contact with Histoire in the last few days, but even if he did, he wasn't sure if he would be able to communicate with her given that the last time he was able to 'talk' with her, the dream had ended.

IF on the other hand had never heard of anything regarding an item called a Key Fragment and despite her connections and experience, she had nothing to add apart from what Compa and Neptune already knew.

"Defeat monsters? Don't be so foolish. Even the Lastation Defense Force doesn't stand a chance against them."

Given Shidou's occupation as a monster hunter alongside IF, he couldn't help but feel his opinion of the Lastation Defense Force to plummet a little.

"But you're nothing more than children! Go home!"

Shidou's fist clenched, nearly taking a menacing step forward, a firm grip appeared by his wrist and unconsciously he turned his attention to who it was that gripped him.

"It's not worth it, Shidou." IF warned. "While I myself do not plan to go to Lastation again in the near future with this stellar service, these people still work for the goddess."

IF wasn't too keen with the reception they had received ever since they had arrived in Lastation, but for someone like her, this was merely the reality of things. There would always be some place that would be unlikely to hire them simply by judging the way they looked. Throwing a tantrum would not do anything and would simply tarnish their reputation.

"We're not like those who suck up to Black Heart." The man refuted with a hateful sneer. "I don't care what people say, but don't confuse us for them. You brats better scram already or I'm going to have to hurt you!"

"So you wanna go fat man? Then bring it! We'll show you the efforts of our level grinding!" Neptune challenged, ready to take out her sword.

"That's enough Nep." IF intervened, placing a hand on the shoulder of her purple-haired party member. She directed a thin smile to the man as she gave a few more words. "We'll show ourselves out – we can't have someone as obese as your trying to do the impossible now, would we?"

IF's scathing words startled Neptune and Shidou from doing anything more, and before the man could try and say any words to refute it, IF had already turned around and with the rest of the party following her.

"Oh, that was impressive Iffy! It's nice that we had the last shot seeing how rude that guy was…"

"It was a little tense, but I think that the man deserved those words…" Compa said, agreeing albeit a bit worriedly.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like they can arrest us for stating the obvious." IF shrugged. "At the very least, if they brought this case up to the CPU, then they'd be the laughing stock instead. You know, unless the CPU was in cahoots with them."

It was hard to imagine that the CPU was not aware of the comings and goings within her own Basilicom.

"But… is this alright, IF? I mean, wouldn't this negatively affect our chances of getting any requests from Lastation in the future?"

Having calmed down after leaving the Basilicom, Shidou began to worry about the repercussions of their own actions.

"It's too late to do anything about it now. And besides, weren't you about to do something worse than I did?"

"That may be true…"

"Like I said, don't worry about it." IF said, bringing up her phone once more. "I don't have that large of an attachment for Lastation anyway, if this action prevents us from taking any quests here, then so be it. There's still three other landmasses that would allow us to work. Right now, we're just here for the key fragment. Although the Basilicom's help would make our search easier, it's not like we can't just gather information using the local populace."

From there, IF took charge for information gathering and after several conversations with even more irritating business men, they had learned that Avenir was one of the companies handing out quests to anyone who is capable of doing so.

Given the rather… _stellar_ presentation that Avenir's influence had in Lastation, IF had decided to forgo working with the aforementioned company in favor of anyone else willing to hand out requests at these tough times.

Their search had landed them to the small workspace of Chian, an aspiring engineer.

She was a lot more amicable than most of the people they had come across in Lastation, but as she was not in any way connected to Avenir, her quests did not pay much in terms of money. Much like the populace who were struggling with the recession, Chian was also in the brink of bankruptcy and it was perhaps due to her own conduct and amiable disposition that made the party accept a request from her despite the mediocre reward.

Since there wasn't much information in regards to monsters from their search, this quest would allow them to gauge just how strong the monsters were and use that as a baseline as to where strong monsters would appear based on the words of the local populace.

With the quest accepted, the party had eventually found themselves in a cavern in the northern parts of Lastation.

"Wow, we've probably already taken over a hundred steps and no random encounters? Did someone bring a super repel?"

"…there isn't anything convenient like that as far as I know." Shidou replied with a wry smile. "But it's less of a monster repellent but more of someone already passing by here."

Shidou motioned over to a spot a distance away from the main path, and located there was several bodies of monsters with tell-tale slashes in their body. The slices were clean – almost as if the blade that passed by through the monster's hide met no resistance.

IF approached the body, alongside Neptune and Compa, and upon looking at the slices that Shidou indicated, she nodded her head in affirmation.

"From what we've seen of the weapon's shop in Lastation, I don't think there are any adventurers from here capable of delivering a clean cut like that. A weapon from Planeptune might be possible and perhaps Lowee, but from Lastation… it's far too improbable."

"So another adventurer has taken the quest before us? Man that blows! It's like kill-stealing but for quests!"

"Technically, it wouldn't be kill-stealing if she saw it before us, Neptune."

Given Shidou's reply, it seems he was quickly getting acclimated on how to deal with Neptune. It also helped that he had played a few games at IF's behest during some of their breaks.

"So do we head back? Whoever delivered these cuts looks pretty competent to me."

"…let's first confirm the safety of the child. I would feel bad if are assumptions are wrong and the child ends up being stuck here longer." Compa interjected.

Compa couldn't simply abandon someone that had requested for their help, and she was less willing to hand over the safety of someone else to someone whom she could not see or even confirm their existence.

"So onwards! We might even get a new party member if we meet this adventurer!"

Neptune led the way once again, with Compa right behind her. Shidou and IF did not particularly mind, given that it was sometimes common to see other adventurers in caverns such as this, there was little worry for it to be a bandit of some sort. Even if there was, IF and Shidou had experience dealing with those kind of trouble.

"By the way, what did this child look like anyway?"

"Black silhouette with a question mark on their body... That's what's stated in the request form."

"…this was given by the mother, right?"

"Yup."

"…"

"Now you can see why I'm so reluctant in getting quests like these, right?"

While Shidou tried to convince himself that this was normal, IF spotted a movement from the corner of her eyes in a separate junction that Neptune and Compa had taken.

The movement, soon made itself apparent and from the shadows, stepped a woman with waist length white hair and a get-up oddly similar to Neptune's transformed form - she even had wings that gave her a somewhat ethereal quality that made it hard to look away. Her eyes had a pattern that was eerily familiar and she held a large sword that was one step to being a great sword like the one that Shidou held furthermore, the weapon itself looked like nothing that could normally be found in Lastation.

"Civilians?" The white haired woman remarked. "If you're lost, I'd be more than happy to escort you back to town."

Confidence radiated from her that wasn't all too different from when Neptune would have transformed into her other form. Despite not knowing the woman before them, IF and Shidou had an instinctual grasp that this person was not someone to be underestimated, yet at the same time, IF found it a bit irritating that she had been marked as a 'normal civilian' instead of a fellow adventurer.

"We're adventurers." IF said. "So we're not normal civilians to say the least. We came here to find a missing child."

"Missing child? Oh, _that_. I've already accomplished the request, so there's no longer a need for worry."

While Shidou was relieved upon hearing that, he still felt a little depressed at that information simply because that limited the credits they obtained for the day. Money itself wasn't exactly a large issue in lieu of the previous quests IF and Shidou had accomplished in the past year, but given that their party size had doubled and that everything in Lastation was expensive due to the recent recession, it meant that money troubles would soon be present in the horizon. And with all the monsters taken care of, they couldn't quite gauge how strong the monsters were in this area of Lastation to use as a baseline.

For the first day of being in Lastation, this did not bode well for their search for the Key Fragment.

"Looks like we'll have to gather ores and herbs then. Thanks for informing us, miss. We'll be going further ahead to gather some materials before heading back."

Even if the overall price of anything sold in Lastation would be frightfully low, getting any sort of money at this time would be a better alternative than getting nothing at all.

"Before that, there's a question I'd like to ask you."

"?"

"I heard that someone else took the same quest going by Neptune. Do you know of her?"

A bit surprised at that question, it took a while before IF or Shidou could formulate a reply. Although in hindsight, it made sense seeing as Neptune had elected herself as the team leader and representative of their party. With that information however, that meant the woman in front of them had not only received the quest _second_ but she had finished the dungeon and rescued the child before they could even reach the quest destination.

That spoke of speed that was simply inhuman.

At the very least, it alluded that the person in front of them had an ability for transportation - and given the wings that she had, it wouldn't be incorrect to say that she most likely had flown here.

"Neptune? Are you an acquaintance of her, by any chance?" Shidou asked politely.

IF was naturally suspicious of the newcomer, given what she could deduce from her ability but Shidou was not the sort to overthink a person's character unless there were explicit signs that told him of something about the person. It was a form of naivety that was unique to Shidou perhaps due to his own lacking memories or that he tended to assume the best in people.

Furthermore, the reason why he had asked such a question was that Neptune shared a predicament similar to Shidou.

Amnesia.

Neptune had no memory of her past, and the only distinct memories she had were of the last two weeks. Shidou had faced something similar more than a year ago, and could thus sympathize with those feelings. It was to the extent that he knew what one would wish upon losing their memories – to find someone who knew of them before they had lost those memories.

"…you could say that."

"Is that so?" Shidou smiled. "Wait here, I'll go get-"

"Shidou, I'll do it. You wait here with her."

IF had stopped Shidou before he could run off into the dungeon to look for their wayward party representative.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm the quickest of us and you've just recently recovered." IF interjected, before she quieted down to the point that only Shidou could feasibly hear her. "Inquire. Don't do anything else."

IF gave a few parting words to the white haired woman before dashing quickly into the dungeon.

Shidou was not entirely sure what IF had meant by those words, but the overall meaning was a given. Seeing as IF and Shidou had been living together for over a year, and that instances where one was absent from another's side for longer than half a day could be counted with one hand, it was no surprise that Shidou could read IF as well as he could.

 _Is she a friend or foe?_

There was no guarantee that those they would encounter who knew Neptune would not be friends or family. Acquaintance was a loose term that referred to someone a person knows, and the term itself is not limited simply to friends or family. It could even refer to a person that's no different from a stranger – the only prerequisite to being considered an acquaintance, after all, was that they had met before.

This meant that the term can also encompass the relationship of _enemies_.

"So you know of Neptune?" The white-haired woman asked, after a moment of awkward silence.

"I've only known her for a week, and I can say she's a good friend if a bit ditzy."

'A bit ditzy' was an understatement and if IF's expressions after a quest with Neptune were any indication, 'good' might be pushing it.

"…something tells me that's not the only thing running in your mind."

"A-anyway, what about you erm…"

Now that Shidou thought about it, introductions hadn't been done at all.

"Ah, that was rude of me… my name is Shidou." He said after scratching his cheeks in embarrassment. "I'm an adventurer from the Guild."

"Guild? Which guild did you originate from?"

Shidou felt that was a particularly odd question. Unlike the Basilicom that normally has those who work under it being devoted to the CPU of their particular nation, the guild in itself was an organization that spans all four landmasses. Thus, unlike the Basilicom, it wouldn't be odd to find a member of a guild worshipping a CPU of a nation outside of their birth place.

However, there seemed to be a notion where the place one registered for in the guild would be the CPU that they held as the one to worship. It was not true in all cases, but it was a common enough event. After all, it was rare to find adventurers leaving the landmass they registered in; an event which was becoming more and more common due to the constantly rising monster population. Shidou and IF on the other hand were part of the rare few that commonly traversed the landmasses.

"Planeptune."

Despite that, Shidou felt no need to lie.

It wasn't that Shidou held the CPU Purple Heart in a higher pedestal than the other CPUs, but it wouldn't be wrong to say that he had a vague form of 'nationality' of his supposed place of origin. His own lacking memories made it difficult to decide which CPU he should hold in higher regard which had the added effect of making him rather indecisive regarding these sort of subjects.

It also didn't help that he felt more at home in the technologically advanced city of Planeptune.

Before anything else could be said on the matter, the sound of footsteps entered their ears and soon enough, IF had arrived with Neptune and Compa.

"It has been a while, Neptune." The white-haired woman greeted (?).

Neptune for her part showed no signs of recognizing the person before her and happily skips over.

"Oh? So you know me? Then tell me who I am!"

For the white haired woman's part, she looked bewildered and took a step back.

"Wait, you don't know me?"

"Hm? Should I know about you?"

Now that Shidou thought about it, neither he nor IF had alluded to Neptune's lost memory to the white-haired woman.

"Oh, I see what's going on…" The white-haired woman said laughing to herself rather stiffly. "You don't wish to include normal civilians into this matter, is that right? Well, it hardly matters to me since they're your followers anyway!"

"Followers? Umm… Miss, we're friends of NepNep-" Compa started, before being interrupted by Neptune.

"And party members!"

"…and we're of the same party."

"Do you still intend on going with this farce?!" The white haired woman bristled in anger. "Don't think I haven't forgotten the humiliation you have given to me, Neptune!"

Shidou, IF and Compa felt their hairs stand on end as a dangerous aura encompassed the area.

"Whoa, whoa, humiliation? What are you talking about Ms. white hair?"

"No matter, if you intend to continue with playing memory loss then I'll just have you lose your life with it!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

It was actually a bit difficult to write this part of the story for me, so revisions for this chapter alone took quite a while. Thankfully, I have most of the initial visit to Lastation already written (about 60-70%) so unless I decide on a rewriting spree, it shouldn't take longer than 2 months (at the most) to have the next chapter rolling. One of the reasons why this chapter took quite a while to get out, apart from the difficulty in revising, is because of work!

I can definitely say I'm not too fond of my work place... given how much time it takes to get to and from there (although not quite long for some people, but the work hours and my need for quite a bit of sleep makes the time wasted too long for me) alongside the rather disappointing jobs I've been given in the past month (where the only thing I struggle with is trying to stay awake during work hours), my writing time has been relegated to the weekends. Which is also the time I use to relax (read: play video games). Hopefully this will change when I get a new laptop instead of borrowing my sibling's laptop.

Excuses aside, I'm sorry if I had gone and skipped Chian's introduction. I'll try to work it out a bit in the future (or, worst case scenario, rewrite this chapter to add the scene), but I had mostly skipped it since not much would have changed in the interaction despite how different this world is from the original (if it isn't obvious yet, it would be a lot obvious later).

As usual, please leave a review or simply follow and/or favorite this story if it appeals to you! I'll try to get the next chapter out in a month or two, but no promises.


	5. Condemnation of a Forgotten Past

**Disclaimer: I neither own Date A Live or Hyperdimension Neptunia.**

With that out of the way, I'm quite surprised at the number of people that reviewed after the last update... thank you for all the follows, favorites and reviews everyone!

I'm glad that some of you spotted certain details in previous chapters - I won't say much more regarding it so you all would just have to take a wait and see approach. I have a general plan of what's set to occur in the future (I have written a good portion of the initial Lastation visit already) so I may or may not take suggestions.

As for what I can answer at this point...

Regarding 'Astral Dress' - in the off chance that Shidou would actually use an Astral Dress (I'm still undecided about this), it would probably be more in line with the Limit Astral Dress that's usually seen from the spirits in their sealed form. If Shidou ends up using the full version, it would obviously be a male version of it.

In regards to the strength of the CPU, they'll definitely be stronger than what is seen in the games. As I understand it, CPUs are not overwhelmingly stronger than those who aren't in the game - which is fine, but since this is a story and not a game, I'll be taking liberties with this. Some of such liberties will be alluded to in this very chapter. As for the full extent, then please wait for future chapters.

* * *

The distance between the white-haired woman and Neptune was a mere 1 meter.

Seeing as the white-haired woman had given enough clues as to her possible speed, the moment that the mood began to change, IF had acted and tackled Neptune out of the way.

If she hadn't done so, Neptune would have been sliced in half by the large, almost-a-great-sword weapon that the white haired woman brandished.

"Nepu… Are you one of those people who snap when you think someone made fun of you?" Neptune grumbled, pulling herself off of the ground alongside IF.

"If you intend to keep up with this farce, then perhaps I might tell who you are after you beat me!"

The white-haired woman dashed forward, but as enough time has passed, Shidou had met the woman midway and used his great sword to parry the blow.

He had already learned his lesson from the fight with the mysterious woman a few days ago – if he had attempted to block the attack, he would surely lose feeling within his hands quickly if it didn't outright power through him.

"Miss…! Can't we talk this out? Whatever it is that Neptune did, she doesn't remember it!"

Shidou continued to parry blow after blow, but despite not receiving the full brunt of the attacks, his hands were slowly beginning to numb. The attacks that the white-haired woman sent his way were fast that despite having trained with and fought alongside IF, her attacks were merely a blur to his eyes.

The only reason why he was still able to keep fighting was that he was using minute movements to telegraph 'openings' in his guard which he then used to anticipate where the attacks would go.

But even then, he had a feeling that the person before him was simply taking it as she didn't seem to be aiming for his life. The way that she used her sword alluded to a skill that was being consciously held back for Shidou's benefit.

"And that makes it alright?!"

Impossibly fast, much faster than the slashes she was attacking with earlier, the white-haired woman lashed out with a kick towards Shidou's solar plexus, sending him skidding through the floors of the cavern.

"GAAH!"

"Mr. Shidou!"

Compa rushed over to Shidou's side as Shidou attempted to stand back up, only to fall to his knees as he clutched the part that had been kicked by the white-haired woman.

Seeing that, IF's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Nep, go and transform! I'll buy you time!"

"You got it!"

IF knew that the woman in front of her was not someone to be underestimated, and given the allusion of speed that she must have to have reached this location and scoured it before they had, the odds were stacked against them. Even if Shidou were to use **Sandalphon** , there was no guarantee that the battle would end in their favor if the first attack missed.

Thus, they could only reliably rely on Neptune.

If Neptune was as strong as the white-haired woman when transformed, Neptune should be much faster when comparing their weapons. Nevertheless, it wasn't a clear cut result – the woman was fast, but there was no telling how fast she could go.

To effectively buy time, she had to make sure not to engage the opponent in close combat for long periods of time.

"Spout from the depths of the underworld, _**Demon Flames!**_ "

While IF could not be considered a magician by any stretch of the word, she had studied a fair bit in the arcane arts when she had passed by Lowee. Given her title as 'Wind Walker', a title that referred to her currently nomadic way of life, being prepared for a wide variety of situations would be necessary for her continued survival.

Magic spells are one of the few ways she could arm herself in the instance she had lost her weapon – furthermore, it allowed her to attack the enemy from a distance to either decimate the enemy or buy time.

At the moment, she was using her magic for the latter situation.

Flames erupted from the ground, sending pillars of fire and molten rock spewing into the air. The heat produced by those flames made it difficult to breathe within the cavern, but the flames temporarily created a wall of fire that would normally make it impossible for anyone to cross unscathed.

 _Normally_ being the key word.

Despite the flames holding heat close to half the temperature of plasma and one that would normally make any human feel first degree or second degree burns upon exposure within the general area, the flames were suddenly blown away with a single strike of the white-haired woman's blade.

Upon doing so, she burst forward as if the flames had done nothing but annoy her.

The action displayed a ridiculous sort of power that IF had a sinking feeling she would be facing more and more situations like she was facing now if she continued to hang around Neptune.

"Ugh… whatever, I sort of expected that!"

Nevertheless, IF was not the kind that would shy away from a challenge.

If she was, she would have never taken up Shidou as her partner!

IF dashed forward, and once she had entered her opponent's range, she nimbly avoided the attacks while sending out her own. Naturally, the attacks missed as the opponent was not only fast with her attacks, her movements were quick and dexterous.

She had already seen how the opponent fought with her blade when Shidou had engaged the opponent, thus IF had a better perception of what the opponent would be capable of doing and act accordingly.

IF however knew that whatever she perceived from her opponent was lacking. It was the same with the mysterious woman they fought a few days ago – because she could not fully ascertain the capabilities of her opponent, she could not plan or anticipate all possible attacks. Not only that, despite having confidence with her own agility, the white-haired woman was a level above her in speed making this sort of fight a disadvantageous one from the very onset.

And soon enough, the tides of battle changed.

Using the flat end of her weapon, the white-haired woman struck IF at her sides sending her flying towards the cavern walls. IF was able to retain her consciousness, but until she recovered her breathing, she could not hope to participate in another bout with any form of success.

"Iffy! I'll take it from here!"

Before the battle could decisively devolve into IF's incapacitation, Neptune in her HDD form intervened and had warded their foe back.

"So you've finally come, Neptune! To think that you would involve even civilians in to our dispute!"

The white haired woman clashed blades with Neptune, but their power was relatively even that as the two fought with almost divine-like grace and skill, it was difficult to tell who well decisively win the bout. Unlike the fight with the mysterious lady a few days ago, the flow of the battle was keenly different. In terms of skill, it could be said that the white-haired woman was more skilled with the blade as she deftly manipulated her sword to parry, thrust, and slash that kept Neptune on her toes. If it weren't for Neptune's unique instinct in battle, the battle may have ended long before.

"Civilians? Why are you making that form of distinction! They are my friends!"

The battle was not going towards her favor, that much Neptune was peripherally certain. The white-haired woman was not as strong in terms of brute strength, but her speed and skill with the blade made it so that recklessly charging in with a skill would spell her end. If it weren't for Neptune's much more lighter blade, she was sure that the battle would not look as even as it did now.

"Friends… huh?"

The mysterious woman's eyes narrowed in anger, the word 'friends' making her irate in a way that Neptune nor IF could tell the reason as to why.

Neptune had simply said what she had believed and whether she was aware of it or not, those within her party had thought of her the same way. IF had stuck with her despite the less than stellar first meeting, Compa had come and joined her quest upon finding her and Shidou had even risked his life just so that everyone could make it out relatively unscathed in the fight against the mysterious woman.

Despite the time that they've known each other could be counted with two hands, it was strong enough for Neptune to admit this fact without any hesitation.

"Then let me tear you away from them!" The white-haired woman forced Neptune back with a wide swing before she took a stance. " _ **Paralyzing Fencer!**_ _"_

Surprised at the coming attacks, Neptune could only hold her ground and defend herself.

The white-haired woman was not as powerful as Neptune in her transformed state, her attacks were delivered with speed and skill – but comparing her to Neptune would be like the difference between a master sword practitioner and one that was taught entirely by experience. Regardless of the skill level however, both positions are susceptible to weakness should one be caught off guard.

The white-haired woman rushed forward, her blade coated with crackling electricity. With blinding speed, she thrust her sword in quick succession towards Neptune.

Neptune, despite being caught off guard, managed to avoid the first few blow and when one of the blows would come close, she used her blade to parry the attack –

A fatal mistake.

Once Neptune's blade had touched the white-haired woman's blade, electricity ran through her blade and towards her body.

"!"

With the electricity having run through her, the follow up attacks had hit their mark and with an ending kick, sent Neptune sprawling towards the cavern floor.

"…so you really lost your memories, Neptune." The white haired woman walked towards Neptune's form.

Neptune tried to stand up, but could only heft herself up to her knees. Her muscles would spasm involuntarily making any form of movement difficult. It was a light shock and the wounds she had sustained were light as well, but it would take a bit longer before her body could recover from the shock – a moment too long as she was sure the white-haired woman would not give her the opportunity to do so.

"If it were you from before, you would have never tried to engage me in close combat once electricity had coated my blade." Within seconds, she was in front of Neptune her sword held aloft. "Any last words?"

What had been her relationship with this person before she had lost her memories? Neptune thought to herself, looking up towards the glint of light reflected upon the blade held aloft by the white-haired woman. No matter how much she thought about it, she could not recall who she was. She could not recall what she had done to earn the woman's ire enough to allude to a past of fighting with her.

What was she like in the past?

It was evident she had power, but how did she use the power given to her?

Would it have been better if she never tried to remember her past?

"Neptune!"

A male voice tore through her thoughts and from the shadows of the cavern, Shidou burst forth his great sword swinging down towards the white-haired woman. But it was a blade that would never hit its mark.

In comparison to the woman's speed, Shidou's current speed was like that of a descending cotton ball to that of a descending rock. It was simply far too slow.

With only one hand holding on to the blade, the white-haired woman blocked the blow with almost casual ease.

"You may be her follower, but I have no intention of killing you." The white-haired woman announced, not the least bit perturbed. "Stand down, this is a problem that doesn't involve you."

But Shidou was having none of it.

"'It doesn't involve me?' Like heck it doesn't! Neptune is our friend! How can I call myself her friend if I would just stand down and have her be struck right in front of me!"

The white-haired woman's expression turned bitter, shifting her grip on her blade, she forced Shidou back with a single swing.

Despite the difference in strength, Shidou's eyes remained challenging and undaunted.

"You mentioned before that just because Neptune has forgotten, that it isn't right for her to remain blameless and I agree with you. But does that make it right for you to deliver judgment to someone who can't even remember the wrongs they committed? Does it make it right for you to not even give them a chance for redemption? I can't agree with a path that doesn't allow someone a chance to make up for their wrong doing when they can't even remember what it is!"

Shidou gripped his blade tighter, and to the white-haired woman's surprise, his eyes had shifted. His iris had whitened, and his normally brown eyes turned a golden amber.

"If you're not going to give Neptune a chance, then by all means I will do everything it takes to stop you!"

Neptune, after hearing his words, realized what it was that Shidou was planning to do. She knew what the result of Shidou's action will be and it was for that matter that she opened her mouth in protest.

"Shin, no! You shouldn't - !"

But Shidou did not heed her voice as he planted his great sword to his left.

"What are you planning to do…?"

The white-haired woman suddenly felt cautious, as if an instinct within her was telling her that something was going to happen. As if a premonition of a storm was brewing.

Shidou raised his right foot from the ground and upon reaching a foot in height, slammed his foot onto the ground and a few inches to the right of his foot, a crack tore open and from it, the top part of the structure that Neptune had witnessed several days ago manifested. It was not at its full height this time, and was only up to the height of Shidou's waist.

"Lend me your strength… **Sandalphon**!"

Pulling the great sword out with his right hand, the pearl white blade with pulsing blue lines and a golden hilt made itself apparent and upon doing so, the structure soon faded away into wisps of light.

Compa, who had been aiding Shidou before this point, had ran towards Neptune's side, performing her job as a nurse. Shidou momentarily turned back towards her, while the latter gave a small smile of assurance.

"I'll be depending on you, Miss Compa!"

"Yes!"

Shidou dashed forward, the white haired woman doing the same and in less than half a second, their blades clashed.

The white-haired woman was expecting Shidou's blade to be deflected to the side and once that had occurred; she would have incapacitated the boy with a much stronger kick. Even if the civilians with Neptune were her followers, she did not condone killing those unrelated to their quarrel.

However, her expectations were thrown out the window when Shidou had not only kept his blade within his hands; he was actually keeping up with her strength.

"H-how…?"

The white-haired woman disengaged her blade and attempted to slash at Shidou, but Shidou had foreseen the attack as he ducked from the blow and attempted to get a hit in with his own. In comparison to Neptune's attack however, the speed of the blow – while fast – was slow enough and predictable that the white-haired woman ducked at the blow and she jumped back to get some distance from the blue-haired boy.

The boy did not look too different from how he was before, but the sudden jump in strength reminded the white-haired woman eerily of her own power. It was different to be sure, as it had to be as there were only four of them around, but the unexplainable way that strength suddenly gathered to match her own made her feel uneasy.

A green glow encompassed the boy's form and it took a moment before the white-haired woman realized that it was the telltale signs of someone in the receiving end of a healing skill.

Did that mean the boy was far from optimal condition? She didn't think she had incapacitated the boy too badly, or perhaps this was due to an earlier injury before entering the dungeon? She did recall that the boy's partner had shot the blue-haired boy worried looks every now and again which was quite evident before she had left to pick up Neptune a few minutes ago.

While the white-haired woman was cautiously gauging Shidou's strength, the boy in question kept his breathing as smoothly as possible. At this point, it wouldn't do at all if his foe figured out that he was under a time limit and that extending the battle would only end in his own defeat.

If there was anything that Shidou recalled from IF's teachings in regards to combat was that to never reveal all your cards at the get go especially when one didn't know the cards that the opposing side held. Once his cards were all out on the table, then it would only be a matter of time before his defeat was ensured.

Shidou's power wasn't so convenient that he could keep it up indefinitely. If the pain was absent and that it did not damage his body from within, he might have been able to fight in a way that didn't involve quickly overwhelming his opponent – but with that possibility out of the window he had no choice but to provide an illusion of pure power.

Compa's help allowed Shidou to maintain his consciousness and to allow him a wider range of movements as time went on, but Compa's own reserves were of an unknown factor that might end up shortening his own battle time.

With this awareness, Shidou resolved his mind for another route –

"Tell me miss… is there something that Neptune did that would justify you killing her?" Shidou breathed out. "I know that we don't know the Neptune that you might have known, but even with the small amount of time we have had together, I don't believe that there's anything that she could have consciously done to earn anyone's anger enough to kill her."

"I'll ask you the same question – why do you risk your life to defend her when you barely know her? For all you know, she could have been a serial murderer before that feigned memory loss of her." The white-haired woman shot back.

"Because the Neptune that I know would not be someone like that."

Shidou did not even hesitate in his reply.

It was a naïve answer, but if Shidou always held such doubts in his minds to every new person he met – it would drive him mad. He had no wish to live a life cautious of everyone new that he would meet.

"You would carelessly ignore someone's past to that extent –"

"It's not careless!" Shidou refuted. "Who you are is not solely dictated by your past! If that was the case, then what's the point of releasing criminals who had finished their sentence? If their history painted a dark picture, why ever let them out? Why even try to reform them? It's the present that decides who you are! It's what you do now, that truly matters!"

"T-that's…!"

A vague feeling of familiarity passed by Shidou's mind - as if the situation he was in had happened in a different instance in the past.

And like that unknown instance, Shidou could not condone the condemnation of someone whom he grew to care about when the other side had not even tried to see things outside of their own limited perspective!

"I know it's a naïve way of looking at things, but I'd rather be naïve than forever condemning those who made a mistake!" Shidou gripped the handle of his blade tighter, his eyes shining brighter than it had been before. "If you don't wish to accept that, then I'll fight you! I won't allow you to hurt Neptune!"

Before Shidou could take a step forward however, a pair of hands had held onto his left and right shoulder.

From his left, was IF giving a wry smile despite her somewhat tattered jacket, while on his right was Neptune with a soft smile. Her cheeks were lightly red, but she had a smile that told him everything would be all right.

"That's enough, Shidou." IF said. "You don't need to fight alone. You were never really the type to fight solo. And what do you mean 'I'? It's 'we'."

"Furthermore, since this battle has my memories on the line, it's only fitting that I should see this through to the end. Also… there's no way I wouldn't fight after you had said those words…" Neptune said her last few words barely louder than a whisper.

"Neptune…?"

"And please don't forget about me!" Compa added cheerfully. "So long as I'm here, I won't allow any wounds to remain unhealed!"

The white-haired woman grit her teeth at the sight. To her, Neptune was a detestable woman, but how did she end up garnering such loyal allies? She was mad at her, yet she knew that doing so would only make her out as the bad guy.

"Well, then let's begin round 2… prepare yourself!"

Neptune burst forward, her blade arcing through the air like a crescent moon. The white-haired woman backed off from the attack and narrowly avoided the following two slashes. Bringing her own blade to the fore, her eyes widened in surprise when she felt an abnormal resistance with her blade.

"Tch! Looks like I'll need a new set of katars after this!"

IF had, for a moment, used her left katar to 'stop' the white-haired woman's attack but due to the sheer power held by the woman, all she could do was slow it down. Nevertheless, it was all that IF needed to do – Neptune had ducked from the blow and used the opening that IF had created to kick the woman back.

"Guh…!"

The white-haired woman's resolve to fight had been shot from the very onset of the reengagement of hostilities. Hearing the boy's words, made her own resolve falter despite the stakes involved.

Even if her actions were prompted by a greater cause, if she could not determine if her own will to carry it out was due to a personal reason rather than the reason she had held when she went out to seek Neptune, she could not carry through with the act with a clear mind. Her mind was simply not in the right state to make a decision to pour all of her energy towards to.

Her indecision began to decisively show itself when instead of avoiding the shots that Compa fired with her weapon, she had raised her weapon to block. The shots that Compa fired impacted the long sword that the white-haired woman held and upon doing so, threw up pink dust that robbed her of her sight.

"Shin!"

"Shidou!"

Hearing the name of the blue-haired boy, the white-haired woman leapt backwards to gain distance from the smoke. She was already wary of what Neptune might do as she knew of her skill with the sword, but the boy's power was something that was still of an unknown that carelessly engaging would hasten her defeat.

"Haaaa!"

Parting the pink dust thrown up by Compa's attack like a hot knife through butter, a thin light blue shockwave rushed towards her position with a speed only slightly slower than that of a bullet.

The white-haired woman had enough presence of mind to narrowly side step the attack, but doing so had shattered her balance and form. The destruction caused by the shockwave as it carved a trench above and below the cavern walls shook her own resolve greatly making a quick recovery impossible.

It was exactly that state that Neptune and IF had been aiming for.

They understood the ability of their foe much better than Shidou and Compa, and had thus planned accordingly.

Shidou was powerful, but limited by the very power that made him powerful.

Compa was not particularly strong as her forte lay in the other side of battle – which is healing. Given her occupation, it wouldn't be wrong to assume she had things that allowed her to distract foes or buy time for an escape or for someone to help.

Both Shidou and Compa could not participate in direct engagements due to their separate limitations, but IF had taken that into account when devising of the plan to overwhelm their foe.

Shidou was not aware of what the plan had been, as he had been busy keeping their foe from attacking Neptune, but he had been partners with IF for over a year, and that meant he could get the basic gist of a plan simply through actions that he had seen before in previous battles acting as a form of indicators or signals of what he should do next.

For the 'plan' that was executed almost all on the fly in Shidou's perspective, his part in the plan was merely to serve as a distraction – to limit what their foe would be able to do.

Once that had succeeded, IF and Neptune were capable of accomplishing the next step.

IF rushed into the fray, barely keeping up with Neptune's reduced speed. By the time they had reached the white-haired woman, she was about ready to regain her balance – but it was a moment too slow.

"Shine! Let down judgment to the unworthy! **La Delphinus**!"

Using her unarmed hand to gather energy, a white light shined brightly on IF's open palm. Once the light had gathered into a spherical shape, instead of directing the energy towards her opponent as she would normally do, she slammed it towards her remaining katar.

The katar began to shine with the same white light that had gathered earlier but cracks began to appear as the energy was haphazardly inserted into a weapon that wasn't meant to contain it.

IF knew this, but still pursued the course of action – it was only needed for a moment after all.

"Nep!"

"I got it!"

With a burst of speed that made her previous run seem slow in comparison, Neptune had reached within sword reach of the white-haired woman and began a flurry of slashes to keep the opponent from regaining her foothold.

"Tch!"

Despite the situation, the white-haired woman skillfully used her blade to parry the worse of the attacks. Receiving minor wounds that were shallow at best was a demonstration of the skill that the white-haired woman had in terms of battling.

Neptune had anticipated this however, as her own one-on-one battle with the white-haired woman had given her experience in that regard. She knew she couldn't rush into the fray carelessly as the woman before her knew of the way she fought, but Neptune herself could not say the same.

It was due to this reason that Neptune had accepted IF's plan from the moment she suggested it.

"Ha!"

Slamming her sword down with all of her weight onto it, Neptune used her blade to pin the white-haired woman's own blade into the floor of the cavern.

"Iffy!"

From behind Neptune, IF leaped into the air and with a shining katar, she descended towards her foe.

The white-haired woman abandoned her weapon and leaped back to avoid the attack, instinctively knowing the difference in strength from IF's earlier attack with the one coming towards her.

The attack narrowly missed the white-haired woman, but IF had anticipated that. Rather, she would have been more surprised if the attack actually connected.

Without pausing, IF threw her katar towards the white-haired woman.

" _ **Burst!**_ "

With that single command, the katar that was shining brightly, exploded moments before the katar would have impacted the white-haired woman's body. The explosion shook the caverns, sending rock fragments to descend from the roof of the cavern and throwing up dust that reduced visibility all around the area.

Light entered the cavern as the resulting explosion had caused the roof of the cavern entrance to burst open, revealing the sunlight of the setting sun. It was mildly surprising that the only cave-in was the part directly above the explosion, but if it weren't for the fact that they didn't want their foe dead nor were they seeking to run away, they would have most likely abandoned the cavern for the day due to fear of more cave-ins.

"Is it over?"

Compa had hefted up Shidou, acting as a human crutch for the blue-haired boy after Shidou had sent the shockwave that knocked the white-haired woman off balance. She had skills to reduce the overall pain and increase the regenerative capability of the target, but Shidou simply received far too much damage in a short period of time that it would take a while for him to recover.

"Are you alright, Shidou?" IF asked worriedly.

Shidou gave a wry smile and said, "It isn't too bad. At least, not as bad as a few days ago… maybe I'm getting used to it?"

Thankfully, it seemed that the injuries that Shidou had inflicted unto himself this time was minimal in comparison to a few days ago. While Shidou felt horrible, it wasn't to the point that he'd be blacking out any time soon.

The dust that had gathered soon cleared, but to their surprise however, the white-haired woman was no longer there.

"Did she run away?!"

IF was doubtful that their foe would have run further into the dungeon as injured as she probably was, but seeing as no one had gone past them since the explosion, it only left one alternative…

"Nep, the roof! She probably flew away!"

The white-haired lady had wing-like appendages floating behind her. If it was anything like Neptune's own wings, then that must mean she had the ability of flight!

"Right! I'll go af-"

Whatever Neptune was going to say was halted in its tracks as a light gathered around Neptune encompassing her for a moment before Neptune's normal form appeared.

"Aw man… I'm out of juice again!"

"Of all the… Compa, we'll leave Shidou to you! Come on, Nep! She can't have gotten far with those injuries!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:  
** And the battle ends... I'm sure some of you may have questions as to how or when they'll find out that Neptune's true identity, but that will come eventually. I'm actually not sure when it would be though since I'm conflicted as to what the circumstances would be that leads up to the revelation.

Shidou of course had to say those words out even in the middle of a battle - because that's who he is. Even devoid of memories, he's the kind of guy that would like to talk things out and only fight when there's no other choice (of course, monsters are out of the question hence no words needs to be spoken there). Well, that and I've been watching the last arc of Date A Live season 2 quite a bit lately so that may have contributed to me making that particular scene...

As a reiteration for those that asked - this follows (roughly) the Re:Birth 1 timeline. But like I said before, I'll be changing things about like how the world works and even how certain plot points come about. The exact details however will come in future chapters.

Now, I'm not entirely sure when the next chapter will come. Sure, I have stuff already written (enough for several chapters), but the next chapter is woefully incomplete (since I just realized I wanted to add something to it) and that recent happenings in real life has the amount things I've written for the past month to be far less than acceptable. Hence I need to 'catch up'. With the arrival of my laptop, hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.

For a rough estimate... the next chapter might come in 2-3 months time. Maybe earlier if I get a lot of free time (which has been quite sparse as of late due to real life stuff). That said, this is not a promise. It could be longer or shorter.

As always, if you like the story please follow, favorite and/or review If you see something off, be it story related or grammar related, don't hesitate to inform me.


	6. Shared Circumstances

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hyperdimension Neptunia or Date A Live.**

* * *

"…I'm really sorry about this, Ms. Compa." Shidou apologized, trying to put as little weight as possible for Compa to shoulder.

Shidou might have been able to recover better if he had remained in place for a while, but with the state of the cavern and that IF and Neptune had gone to pursue the white-haired woman, it was better to pursue in case something bad happened.

IF was practically weaponless, and Neptune didn't have enough energy to transform – so it stands to reason that Shidou was more than a bit worried.

…not that he would be of any help as of the moment due to the state of his body.

If anything, the only one that wasn't handicapped in their party in any way was Compa. Although seeing that Compa was a nurse that specialized in healing, Shidou couldn't quite say that their battle capability would have improved – simply prolonged.

"It's fine, Mr. Shidou." Compa said reassuringly. "It's partially my fault for allowing you to go through with your plan even though I knew this would result. Maybe if I was a better nurse, then you would still be capable of standing on your own two legs."

Shidou gave a wry smile, not intending to open the conversation further. He had a similar conversation with Compa two days ago, and he'd rather not do a repeat of mutual self-depreciation.

"By the way Ms. Compa, why did you want to be a nurse in the first place?"

In an attempt to change the subject, Shidou said the first thing that had entered his mind.

As it was, Shidou had no idea what he wanted to do in the future and had resolved himself as living the life of an adventurer for as long as IF wished to. That wasn't to say that Shidou did not like being an adventurer – as, much like his partner, he enjoyed the new sights that would be presented to him whenever he visited some place new.

"Why I wanted to be a nurse…?"

"Er, if it's personal you don't have to tell me! I'm just curious that's all."

Compa shook her head at that and gave a soft smile.

"It's nothing tragic, if that's what you're wondering about. I just wanted to help save people."

Shidou's eyes momentarily directed itself towards Compa's exceedingly large needle-like weapon before he returned his attention to Compa.

"Y-your needle is mainly used as a weapon, right?"

"Oh, that? It also works as a nursing tool! Do you wish to see?"

"…no thanks."

"But apart from that, I don't wish to see people suffering." Compa admitted. "I want to be there to alleviate people's pain no matter how little. I don't mean to be arrogant to say I wish to help everyone, but to those that I can reach, then I wish to help them."

With a faraway expression that told of a desire that she wanted to grant with her own two hands, Shidou felt a small form of resonance that he couldn't quite put a finger to. It was much like the answer to a question at the tip of one's tongue and that the only other thing needed was a small push for the answer to be revealed.

"That's… admirable." Shidou finally said, brushing away the thought for a later time. "You at least have a goal to reach out to, so I feel a bit jealous."

"Isn't it the same for you, Mr. Shidou? Don't you wish to recover your memories?"

"Maybe. Although nowadays, I'm not too sure. I haven't found a single clue to my memories ever since IF had found me. I've been traveling the landmasses to find a clue, but all I've found are vague feelings that might have been something I had done before I lost my memories."

It was clear that Shidou had some form of memory in the past – his muscle memory seemed to be working fine as his skill with cooking and preference with weapons could allude to. He could even recall the names of the meals he had created even if he had not necessarily encountered the dish he had cooked in any of the places he had eaten from. But concrete memories as to who Shidou of the past was were always out of his reach.

His lack of memories had led to him creating new memories without any hesitation – never looking back and always moving forward.

"I was pretty much a blank slate when IF found me." Shidou said after a moment of silence. "I probably would have never known I had amnesia if she hadn't told me. Rather, I was only reminded to look for my old memories when I started having recurring dreams… but it turns out it was Histoire asking me for help."

If Histoire hadn't called for him, what would have changed? Would he have been content adventuring with IF without any thought on whom he was in the past?

Shidou felt that would have likely been the case.

"But you still ended up trying to search for it when Ms. Histy, asked for your help, right?"

"Yeah… I just couldn't ignore it. Rather, I had a feeling that the _me_ _of before_ and the _me_ _of the present_ would both be unable to ignore a call for help, especially when it was directed to me."

It was like asking an adventurer who hadn't drank water in three days to _not_ drink water when it was right in front of him. A battle of wills that felt like ripping one's self apart from trying to even consider doing it.

"Then that's fine isn't it?" Compa said, giggling lightly.

"What do you mean?"

"Whether you want to recover your memories or not, you're still trying to act the way you wish to act. Surely, you may not see it as something needed, but won't you feel regret for not even trying to find out who you were before?"

"So I should search for it so I wouldn't regret anything?"

"Yes and if you meet up with Histoire, maybe she might know something about it? NepNep said that she would be able to restore her memories and if she could do that, then maybe she could for you!"

It was an awfully optimistic way of looking at things, but Shidou wasn't a particularly pessimistic person in the first place.

"Yeah, you might be right." He agreed with a smile of his own.

After the conversation ended with only the soft footsteps of Compa and Shidou's shoes impacting the greenery around the cavern they had exited, they eventually spotted IF and Neptune with another person.

Shidou was expecting it to be the white-haired woman, but it was someone else entirely.

"Heeey, Shin! We found a comrade!"

"…a comrade?"

Neptune brought along a black-haired girl with hair done into short twin-tails and an outfit that was without a doubt rather regal looking with black as the main color, and showed her to him in a buddy sort of way. She also had what looked like a rapier and its scabbard by her waist.

She was a rather distinct looking girl; pretty to be sure, and if it were any other situation, Shidou would have hesitated interacting with the girl simply due to the presence she held.

Was this person an acquaintance of Neptune by any chance?

"Meet amnesiac buddy #3!"

"Wait, #3? Who's #1 and #2?" The black-haired girl asked exasperatedly.

"I'm #1 obviously, since I'm the main character!" Neptune said puffing out her non-existent chest. "And Shin over here, is #2! Although if we're talking about who has had amnesia the longest then maybe Shin would be #1…"

The newcomer decided to ignore Neptune and gave Shidou a surprised and somewhat sympathetic gaze.

"So you have amnesia as well?"

"Well, since it's out of the bag, yes." Shidou admitted rather easily. "My name is Shidou. I would extend a hand out in greeting, but I'm not exactly in the best of form right now…"

"There's no need. My name is Noire, an… amnesiac just like you are."

Now that Shidou got a good look at Noire, she seemed to be quite injured with various cuts and scrapes around her body.

"What happened?"

"It seems like she got mauled by a monster here and lost her memories." IF answered, giving a soft disappointed sigh. There was something else hidden within her expression, but Shidou couldn't quite tell what it was. If it were any other person looking at IF however, they would have most likely missed it. "Well, let's get out of here. None of us are in good fighting form and I just lost my main weapons."

"Aye, aye sir!"

"It's ma'am, you idiot!"

* * *

"Welcome back – are you alright?!"

Chian greeted the party as they entered the cafeteria ran by Chian's parents, but her greeting stopped midway when she looked at the state of the party.

With the exception of Compa, everyone including the newcomer had various cuts or injuries around their body. Torn and ruffled clothing were also present making it as if the party got hit by a typhoon and had managed to just pick up the pieces.

"We're fine." IF answered. "A bit roughed up, but things could have gone better and sorry that we couldn't rescue the child ourselves, apparently, someone had gone there before us."

"While it's heartening to know that the child is safe, but let's have you guys looked over."

IF conversed with Chian to report regarding the party's excursion to the dungeon while Compa had borrowed a room to look over the injuries of Neptune, Shidou and the new party member, Noire.

…at least that's what Neptune told Shidou at any rate.

"By the way Compa, why don't you just use your skill to heal us like you did with Shidou?"

"Oh, you mean 'First Aid'? I would love to do that NepNep, but if I do it one more time, I feel like I'd faint…"

For reference, Compa had constantly been doing a healing skill towards Shidou as they walked back to Chian's cafeteria. As the damage was internal, it had supposedly made it difficult to pinpoint where to aim her skill and had thus been wasteful in the usage of mana. Her efforts eventually bore fruit, and by the time they reached their destination, Shidou was capable of walking with his own two feet once again.

"Hmm… so we don't have any of those neat items that restores SP, MP or whatever it is that skill uses up when executed?"

"…if you're talking about replenishing mana, then they're quite expensive. If I recall correctly, IF and I have a few in our safehouse back at Leanbox, but bringing them along is almost like bringing cold hard cash with you."

It didn't help that those said items looked far too close to diamonds from an outsider's perspective that it was almost like painting a target on one's back for thieves.

"Leanbox? Didn't you say you originated from Planeptune?" Noire asked, pitching in to the conversation.

"Planeptune? When did I say that?" Shidou asked, giving the recent amnesiac a look of confusion.

He didn't remember saying anything about where he had originated from to Noire.

"E-er, I mean, seeing as your friend Neptune here is most likely from Planeptune based on her name and color preference, I thought you'd be the same."

"Well, I can't deny that…" Shidou agreed momentarily shooting the purple haired preteen a glance which she spotted and gave him a thumb up… for whatever reason. "It's true that I may have originated from Planeptune, but for the past year and a half, I've spent most of my time in Lowee and Leanbox."

"May?" Noire pressed, but she quickly caught herself upon reflecting upon her own words. "Sorry, I may be asking too deep of a personal question…"

"I don't mind." Shidou said good-naturedly. "I suppose knowing about what I know as a fellow amnesiac might rest your mind at ease."

"Yeah! We amnesiacs got to stick together you know; we're practically birds of a feather!" Neptune added enthusiastically.

"Aww… I feel like I'm being left out."

"…Ms. Compa, it's in these types of situations that you shouldn't mind feeling left out."

It would trouble Shidou if Compa wished to have amnesia just so she could be part of the group!

"Neptune most likely would have originated from Planeptune, or at the very least has a high amount of national spirit for the landmass; as for myself, I was found amnesiac a fair distance from the main city of Planeptune." Shidou explained. "I'm not really sure if I'm from Planeptune, I just happen to have been found there."

"Does that mean you don't hold Ne – I mean, Lady Purple Heart as your goddess?"

Shidou felt it was a strange question, but he supposed there were people out there that felt strongly about these subjects.

"No, not really. Although I hold her with respect, but it's not like I hold any of the goddesses in a pedestal higher than the others."

"I see…" Noire seemed to think deeply about Shidou's words. Her words almost seemed as if she was relieved yet at the same time, a sense of foreboding seemed to enter Shidou's mind upon hearing the words uttered.

"By the way Ms. Noire –"

"Drop the honorifics, you do the same with Neptune here, right?"

"Yep! If I want my route to be more easily accessible then dropping formalities should be the way to go!"

"Who would want to go in your route in the first place!?"

"Shin definitely would! Although now that I think about it, he seems to be the type to explore all routes to get all the CGs… by that logic, does that mean you're going to aim at the harem route right off the bat!?"

"Like I said before, what the heck are you talking about!? I haven't even played a Visual Novel –"

-my whole life.

Those were the words that Shidou wanted to say, but he had stopped himself because somehow, he felt that what he was about to say was a lie.

"Woah, you okay there amnesiac buddy #2? I was only joking, but if you're really serious about it, then I get dibs as the main wife!"

"Mr. Shidou? Are you feeling alright?"

Noticing that Compa, Neptune and Noire were shooting him with worried looks, Shidou tried to wave it off with a small smile.

"It's nothing, probably just a sense of dejavu or something like that."

It would be hard to call a feeling of 'having played a Visual Novel before' as a clue to Shidou's past as gaming was practically a way of life for all four landmasses. While Shidou may have never played Visual Novels ever since he had lost his memories, it did not mean his past self didn't. On the flip side, just because he played fighting games in the present, it did not mean that he also played it in the past.

Memories were finicky especially regarding common day to day events that just about any normal person would go through.

Before conversations could start once again, IF entered the room with what looked like a new pair of her trademark jacket as there were no signs of the gathered dust or torn parts caused by the fight with the white-haired woman.

"It's time for dinner. Although we didn't complete the request, Chian is apparently willing to treat us to food."

"…is that alright? The recession has been tough on the local businesses and Chian herself is struggling during these times."

"I tried to dissuade her." IF said shrugging lightly. "You're welcome to try yourself, Shidou but the food is already ready."

"Let's go eat then! And if you really feel guilty about this Shin, then we'll just have to try a lot harder next time, right?"

Surprised at Neptune's sensible words, Shidou could only nod as he slowly followed the cheerful preteen out of the room.

* * *

"So you were attacked by a woman who was apparently after your purple-haired friend over there?" Chian asked in confirmation.

"We're not exactly sure why she was after Nep since she's suffering amnesia, but we've met a similar situation in Planeptune." IF replied, eating the simple meal given to her.

At present, IF, Shidou, Neptune, Compa, Noire and Chian were in a small cafeteria linked to Chian's main workshop. It was devoid of any people apart from the six present giving it a sort of private air. It also allowed Neptune to eat without receiving any scolding for her etiquette but judging by the disapproving look that Shidou was sending the purple haired preteen, IF supposed it was only a matter of time before that no longer became the case.

"That seems troubling."

"While Shidou and I don't have much experience against human to human battles, we can hold our own well enough." IF said, trying to reassure Chian's worry regarding future requests. "If anything, I doubt that person would come back for quite a while."

Shidou thought it was odd that IF could say those words with conviction seeing as they had no idea where the white-haired woman went, but he hadn't got a good look at how injured the white-haired woman was as she left so he couldn't quite gauge if the injuries she had received would be enough to incapacitate her for the next couple of days.

"So your name is Noire?" Chian said, addressing the black-haired amnesiac. "It isn't much, but I hope the food is to your liking."

"It's good, rather I feel guilty that you're providing us food despite the difficulty that you're under."

Noire had understood that based on Shidou's words that this action was a bit too extravagant for someone like Chian despite its simplicity.

"It's alright. Although the request was originally to rescue a child, the fact that these adventurers that I've come to only know about today had managed to save you is enough reason to celebrate."

Shidou couldn't help but smile at those words which only bolstered his resolve to do well in future requests to help out Chian. At the corner of his eyes, he spotted his partner sporting a somewhat wry smile before she took a bite of her food.

"At any rate, this day has been a bust." IF said with a sigh. "To be honest, I hadn't heard much about the state of Lastation's economy. Given the bustling business district, I'd have thought there would be more quests to go around especially during these times."

"While the bustling business district did open quite a few jobs, it's not exactly for adventurers." Chian replied with a wry smile. "Disregarding their almost iron grip with the Basilicom, Avenir has provided jobs for the local civilians as factory workers. Given how quickly they monopolized the market, even the feeble pay and working conditions was enough incentive for most rather than the alternative of competing with such a large firm."

"How did Avenir get such a quick grip of Lastation's businesses anyway?" Shidou asked. "To be honest, I've only heard of the company in Lowee and perhaps Leanbox, but their presence might as well be another sole proprietor within the vast market."

It was almost unheard of in the other landmasses for a particular company to get such a large grasp of the market. Certainly there might be duopolies in particular market segments but a monopoly in nearly all types of businesses was something that sounded like a businessman's dream. Never mind the regulations that were supposed to prevent businesses from getting such a large part of the economy that it almost depended on them to keep the landmass going.

"I'm not entirely sure myself, but rumor had it that Avenir's CEO had given a proposal to Lady Black Heart that would revive the market to allow it to compete with Planeptune's technology in a short five year time span."

"…that's a rather bold assertion."

"You wouldn't be wrong." Chian agreed, taking a sip of her tea. "I'm not sure what had occurred three years ago for Lady Black Heart to agree to Avenir's demands, but whatever the case was, regulations were passed and after Lady Black Heart's sudden disappearance, things just spiraled out of control."

"Spiraled out of control?"

It was an odd way of putting it that Compa instinctively mouthed out her question.

"There's a rumor Avenir had managed to place one of their members into the Basilicom with the help of Lady Black Heart and with that person within the governing body… sad to say, it was only a matter of time before things took a turn for the worse."

In a sense, it was like tasking a wolf to take care of a sheep – it was a disaster waiting to happen.

"That was rather callous of Lady Black Heart." Shidou commented honestly, not noticing their newest companion flinch at that remark.

"What's with the exaggerated flinch, amnesiac buddy #3?"

"D-don't call me that!"

For Neptune's part, she was content to ignore the conversation in favor of eating her food. At least, until a certain vegetable came to her immediate notice.

"Ugh! What's this?!"

Hearing the exclamation of the purple-haired preteen, the conversation regarding Lastation politics ended abruptly. Chian, who had prepared dinner, was more affected by the sudden but strong reaction of Neptune towards her food.

"W-what's wrong? Was there anything in the food that wasn't to your liking?"

"No, no, no. The food is good and all, but this!"

As if pointing towards an abomination to all things that was considered humane, Neptune exaggeratedly and heatedly placed attention towards a rather innocuous vegetable on her plate.

It was a purple skinned vegetable that had been filleted opened to let out its somewhat greenish insides that flayed out in a way reminiscent of scrambled egg.

To put it simple terms, it was an eggplant.

"That's… an eggplant." Shidou deadpanned.

"Yes, it's an eggplant! Why would anyone ever think of placing that abomination in a plate?!"

"To eat it, of course." IF answered with a similar expression to her partner.

"Does NepNep not like eggplants?"

"'Not like'? More like hate it!" Neptune said vehemently, sticking a tongue out at the eggplant.

"Hate? What brought this about? Have you even tasted it?"

"There's no need for me to taste something like that to know it's completely inedible!"

"Say that again to the millions of people that eats vegetable, Neptune."

Despite their insistence, Neptune was adamant at not eating the purple vegetable something that made both Compa and Shidou pause for thought.

"I could call up at least five vegetables that are more unlikeable than eggplants and unlike those vegetables, eggplants has more easily accessible recipes to make it taste better…"

"And those ingredients are common source enough that even children would like it…"

Compa and Shidou exchanged a look that made a chill run down Neptune's spine. Oddly enough, this feeling was shared with IF as both girls took a step back from the pair.

"W-wait, this isn't an invitation to put eggplants in future meal you know?!"

"Don't worry Neptune." Shidou said with a smile that didn't quite reach up to his eyes.

"Yes, you won't know that the eggplant is even there NepNep!"

"That doesn't set my mind at ease at all!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:  
** Well, it's later than usual, but at least I had it within my projected time of update, right?

Real life has gotten in the way of my writing in the form of stress so while I do use writing to release some of it, I ended up just video gaming to get my mind off of things. It doesn't help that I faced writer's block for the latter part of the initial Lastation Arc and ended up skipping to writing the initial Leanbox Arc…

Next chapter is likely to come after I update one of my other stories (Awakening, to be specific). So when that comes out, depending on how I'm feeling after I update, the next update for this story might come a week or a whole month after that.

Anyway, thank you all for the reviews, favorite and follows!


	7. Morning Training

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hyperdimension Neptunia or Date A Live**

* * *

"Yaaaawn… isn't it still night time, Iffy? I don't see… the sunlight out… so maybe I can take a longer nap?"

"Nope. Didn't I say last night that we'll be out training today?"

As of the moment, Compa, Neptune and IF were out in the quiet streets of Lastation, right before the door to Chian's cafeteria. With the exception of IF, each party member were showing signs of drowsiness – and that in itself wasn't surprising seeing as while it was already morning, the sun hadn't broken through the horizon yet.

"You mean level grinding?"

"…whatever. Anyway, before we can accept any more requests, I believe it would be to our advantage if we get some experience in how each other fights so we don't need to have long planning sessions during a fight against someone we can't handle without any tactics."

In the past week alone, IF and Shidou had been placed in battles that were beyond their expectations in difficulty. While instances like those weren't exactly rare in quests given out by the guild or the basilicom, the alarming frequency had IF on edge especially since Shidou had been forced to use the power he had obtained from the crystal in both instances but in each instance, it was questionable if Shidou would have actually won if there wasn't anyone to support him. As much as IF hated to admit it, if Neptune or Compa weren't there, the battle would have most likely ended in their definitive loss.

To lessen the burden on her partner and to ease her own worries no matter how little, increasing their overall battle potential was the next best option.

Of course, there was always the option of abandoning Neptune, but IF and Shidou weren't the type to abandon a quest just because it got difficult – furthermore, they both considered Neptune and Compa a friend. With their somewhat nomadic tendencies, friends were important for the both of them.

"But didn't you lose your weapon yesterday, Iffy?" Compa asked, trying to rub the drowsiness from her eyes.

"Chian apparently had some stored in her factory." IF said, showing off her new katars. It didn't have an insignia of creation, and it had only had one main blade instead of the two bladed one she had held yesterday but IF held the weapon rather comfortably. "Well, it's not as sturdy as my last katars, but I'll just have to make do with these until we can either get back to Planeptune or get one in Leanbox."

The door to Chian's cafeteria swung open, revealing Shidou's slightly weary figure. He had his usual great sword strapped to his back, but he was also bringing along a basket.

"…those are just sandwiches, right?" IF asked apprehensively.

"Did you want something else?"

"…"

Shidou, despite preparing the breakfast himself, was slightly drowsy and missed his chance to tease IF. Rather, it was more correct to say he didn't have the energy for it.

Morning training like the one he was going to participate in was a rarity. It was a bit common in the weeks that followed after he had signed up in the guild, but as he got used to how battles were supposed to go and that his body had reached the minimal required physical condition, morning training became less and less frequent.

Before the silence could get awkward, the door once again swung open revealing the form of their recent acquaintance, Noire.

"Noire? What are you doing waking up so early?" Shidou asked, a bit of his drowsiness knocked out by the unexpected arrival of the newcomer.

"I could ask the same of you guys. The basilicom and the guild shouldn't be open at these times barring emergencies."

Despite having no memory, it seems that Noire had a good grasp of what it was like to live in Lastation. Shidou and Neptune were lacking in the common sense front, and it made Noire's amnesia seem partial instead of complete.

"We're planning to go out training." IF answered not the least bit surprised at the knowledge that Noire had. "We had an encounter… with someone as strong as the one we fought yesterday a few days ago, so in case this starts becoming a common trend, we need to get stronger."

"…let me join."

"Eh? Nowa wants to join too?"

"Who are you calling Nowa!? My name is Noire!"

"Eehhh… Nowa is a lot more cuter, and Noire sounds so pretentious…"

"Grrr… I'll show you pretentious-"

"N-now, now… there's no need to get into an argument!" Shidou interjected hastily, immediately getting in between Noire and Neptune. "A-anyway, Noire, you know how to fight?"

"…I-I suppose so, I mean, I do have a sword with me when you found me, right?" She said somewhat hesitantly.

There was an odd sense of dissonance with how hesitant Noire had said those words, but Shidou supposed it was because she was thinking that there must have been a reason why she was carrying a weapon by her waist in the first place.

Perhaps it would be like how Shidou was with cooking – her muscle memory might have remained.

"By the way, Nowa, what's with the glasses?"

Now that Neptune pointed it out, Shidou noticed that Noire was indeed wearing a pair of round red-framed glasses.

"I just remembered – yeah, that's right." She said nodding to herself. "If I don't wear these glasses, people might mistake me for Lady Black Heart."

…do glasses work as a means to dissuade people on thinking she wasn't who she was cosplaying? Shidou felt it would have been more prudent if Noire had changed clothing to something that Lady Black Heart hadn't supposedly wore out in public. Although given the circumstances, it was unlikely they could have produced clothing for Noire in short notice.

"Does that mean Ms. Nowa cosplays as Lady Black Heart?"

"…didn't I say I don't want to be called like that? B-but, yes, you could say that whoever I was before must have held mys- I mean, Lady Black Heart rather highly."

"Right." IF said curtly. "Anyway, we're wasting time talking here, so if you want to come along Ms. Noire, then be our guest. If you really do know your way with the sword, then I suppose my partner over here can learn a thing or two from you."

"Hey! Shin, can learn how to use the sword from me!"

"…Nep, in that form of yours, you're more of a brawns over brains type." IF said bluntly.

The purple haired preteen flinched at the remark.

"I-I can be plenty smart!"

"Name me one instance where you actually used your brain to get us out of a mess in the past few days."

"…by the way, Shin, what's for breakfast?"

"…so you're not even going to grace me with a reply, huh?" IF sighed, holding her head in frustration. "Let's get going. We're not eating until we at least take out some monsters!"

* * *

Half an hour after leaving the main city of Lastation's border, the party of five had reached West Wind Valley with the help of IF's map that she had downloaded to her cellphone and Noire's directions.

For an amnesiac, she seemed to have a solid grasp of the landscape around Lastation which gave credence that she must have lived in Lastation before losing her memories. It was a far cry from Neptune and Shidou's own state where they couldn't recall even the landscape of Planeptune despite being found there.

"Can we eat yet?"

"We just got here, Nep. At least take out some monsters before we settle down for breakfast." IF replied, easily denying Neptune's request.

The cool air of Lastation mixed with the currently absent sun made the area rather cold to the point that Shidou was slightly regretting the fact that he didn't bring warmer clothes. With the exception of himself, Noire's clothing didn't seem to have much insulating capability but she seemed to weather the cold air rather easily. IF had her jacket, Neptune had her purple parka and even Compa wore a white wool sweater. In comparison to the girls, Shidou felt a bit under dressed for the weather.

With his usual blue unbuttoned short sleeved shirt, a black undershirt and black pants, his clothing didn't provide much in terms of protection from the weather. He could of course use the warming spell he had learned in Lowee, but he wasn't too experienced with the arcane arts that he could casually alter the output of a spell.

"So let's split up into two groups. Neptune, you're with me. I'm going to drill some basic commands that I should have done a few days ago… by the end of today, you'll know how to fetch a stick with eye contact alone."

"…why does it seem like you're making me sound like a dog, Iffy?"

"It's just your imagination, Nep!" IF said a bit too cheerfully as she pulled the purple-haired girl with her. "Compa, I'll have you join the other two in case they get injured out here."

"L-leave it to me!"

It had been a while since Shidou had seen IF enter what he dubbed as 'training mode.' It made him feel a bit of nostalgia at the scene despite not being directly in the receiving end of things.

"So what exactly do we do?" Noire asked, bringing Shidou out of his thoughts.

"I-I'm not too clear either on what we should do, Mr. Shidou... Iffy didn't say much apart from making sure that we don't get injured."

"…well, she did say to hunt monsters for warm up." Shidou said, recalling IF's words earlier and previous training sessions he had undergone with IF. "Although to make this more productive, let's gather some monster parts as well. I think I read up from IF's phone that there's a type of monster here that drops a specific item."

While neither IF or Shidou could be considered poor, it was best to have a steady means of income so that any stored money could be relegated for emergency funds. Chian providing them with shelter and a place to eat was practically CPU sent given that the overall cost of living in Lastation was horrendously high. Not only that, if Compa had not been with them, Shidou was sure that most of the money would have been used for medical fees…

"…hunting monsters is a warm up?"

"It wasn't before, but I suppose she has confidence in our strength… IF seems to have a good assessment of you, Noire." Shidou pointed out.

"Are you sure it's because of me?"

"Absolutely." Shidou said without hesitation, making the twin-tailed girl's eyes widen in surprise at his bluntness. "Despite being with IF for over a year now, she's still reminding me of things she taught me in the first few months of my time in the guild. You must have really impressed her with the way you carry yourself for her to believe your fighting capability without actually seeing it."

That wasn't mentioning the fact that IF wasn't too keen in sending Shidou on his own to hunt monsters.

"I-is that so? Then it's best I don't fall behind your expectations then…"

"My expectations?"

"I mean, IF's expectations!"

Compa was beginning to look unsatisfied by the recent interactions, as evident by her following words.

"Muuu… Please don't leave me behind! I wish to meet your expectations too, Mr. Shidou!"

"When did this conversation turn towards my expectations!?"

Eventually, conversations ended and the trio went further into the monster infested area using a different direction from where IF and Neptune had left earlier.

Despite the time that was eaten up by conversations and the walk to getting here, sunlight had yet to break the horizon which made Shidou think that they had woke up a bit too early…

There was a lack of overall light in the surrounding area, as the moon seemed to be entering the phase of 'new moon' and was barely visible in the sky. The only reason the party could see anything without the use of flashlights or spells was because of the man-made lights that were scattered at the side of the most used roads.

That said, some lights were no longer working either due to some electricity problem or that the lamp itself had been destroyed at some point.

"Three ravens… if I'm right, we can extract 'Night Fang Feather' from them." Shidou mentioned to the other two beside him as they took cover behind one of the larger rocks protruding around the area.

The three spotted monsters were far larger than a 'normal' raven and was roughly half of Shidou's height when standing.

"Night Fang Feather?" Compa asked with an expression that said she had never heard of it before.

Given that Compa was a nurse-in-training, Shidou supposed it would be too much for her to know of a monster drop.

"It's a synthesis component for making potions of induced darkness. An acquaintance of IF and I tend to make all sorts of weird potions from just about anything. Ravens are one of the more easily hunt-able ones seeing as they pop up in three out of four landmasses."

"Potions of induced darkness?"

"It can cause temporary blindness on those drenched by the potion or those who gets a whiff of it." Shidou explained. "It can be used to prevent enemies from accurately attacking you, or to make a quick getaway. It's been pretty handy in situations where there are suddenly too many enemies to take on at once."

An incident regarding rats, zombies and bunnies rose to the forefront of Shidou's thoughts… it was the first time he remembered screaming in sync with IF as they ran away.

"Do we need to take them out in any specific way?" Noire said, posing her own question.

"No need to go for any unnecessary risks and besides the feather is quite literally littered over the monster's body. We just need to extract the feather before instantaneous degradation begins – in other words, while the Raven is still alive."

Instantaneous degradation is a term that monster hunters in the guild tended to refer to the quick disappearance of monster bodies after their death. Unlike other living creatures such as livestock, degradation was often 10 times faster for monsters (sometimes even 100 times). That being the case, it did not mean that there were parts that couldn't be extracted once a monster loses its life, but the parts that held a high value in the market were often the ones that were extracted before a monster died as instantaneous degradation doesn't affect parts that were extracted before the monster had begun to decompose.

To that end there were certain materials that existed in the market that specifically acted as a tranquilizer just so that certain parts could be extracted from the monster's body safely and with little damage to the part being extracted.

"Hmph. That should be easy enough." Noire said confidently, swinging her rapier a few times with surprising agility.

"Okay then, since this is just a warm up, there's not much need for an overly complicated plan and I'm not too good with those kinds of plans anyway since I'm still learning." Shidou said, giving a wry smile. "Noire, can you take out one of those ravens on your own?" Seeing the twin-tailed girl nod, he continued. "Then I'll take the attention of the other two ravens while you take out the raven and extract some of the feathers. Compa, just provide covering fire to us based on your judgment."

"Based on my judgment…?"

"Don't worry too much." Shidou said giving what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Whatever happens, I'm more or less experienced with these kinds of requests so there's no need for worry unless something really strong appears."

"Right!"

Although Shidou felt that Compa should have chosen a weapon that didn't make one feel they had to protect their butt all the time…

"Now then…"

Shidou took a deep breath, gripping his great sword with one hand and allowed energy to seep from his body towards the blade.

White motes of light gathered at a steady pace, and within seconds, the great sword began to give off its own illumination.

Shidou realized that the energy gathering phase was far too slow, but if he did not do it like this, he risked letting another form of energy go out of control – a constant problem ever since he had unlocked **Sandalphon**.

"Let's begin!"

Satisfied with the energy gathered, Shidou rushed out of the covering rocks and slammed his blade towards the ground in the direction of the three ravens.

" _Sword Crash!_ "

A torrent of blue light carved its way from Shidou's blade to the ravens leaving a trail of destruction at its wake. Unlike the beam of light created by **Sandalphon** however, the power was much weaker and its speed almost a fraction of that same power. Nevertheless, utilization of that skill was unlikely to incapacitate or injure Shidou any time soon.

The ravens scattered away from the attack, but one in particular was chipped at the wing causing its flight to be delayed.

It was already too late by the time it regained its balance.

"Too easy!"

With speed matching up to IF's own, Noire reached the flailing raven and, in a blink of an eye, had pierced both of its wing with her rapier and carved a deep gouge on its stomach.

Feathers fell by the wayside and after observing that at least a dozen were already on the ground, she ended the 'battle' with the raven with a single thrust to the raven's head.

Based on Shidou's observation of that moment in battle, it was clear that Noire had a veritable amount of battle experience as she took down the raven without hesitating or doing any sort of wasted movement. Her speed was top notch, and her weapon took advantage of her nimble frame.

There was no doubt that she was above Shidou in terms of swordplay and agility.

One of the two ravens that had its attention on Shidou flew down, intent on crashing to him with its claws. Using the flat side of his blade, Shidou defended from the blow and not even a second after the impact, pink explosions impacted the side of the raven.

"Mr. Shidou!"

"Right!"

With the Raven knocked off balance, Shidou used his left hand to grasp a handful of feathers and tore the feathers free; once that was done, he pivoted in place and cleaved the raven in half with his sword. The weight of his blade made the action go seamlessly with almost no resistance.

The third raven by this point of time had flown high up in the air, cautiously circling above them.

"So only one left." Noire said, standing beside Shidou as she looked up towards the last raven. "What's the plan?"

"I didn't bring my arrows… and I don't exactly have ranged magic good at taking out aerial enemies." Shidou said, observing the flying raven. "Do you have any, Noire?"

"No."

"Ms. Compa, can you shoot it down?"

"I'll try!"

Firing a few shots towards the wayward raven, Shidou was hardly surprised that none of the shots hit its mark.

Not only was the raven nearly as dark as the morning sky, it was far too high up for someone like Compa to reliably aim at. If IF were here, she would have most likely pelted the raven with her magic and if Neptune were here, she could have transformed to fly at the raven.

Shidou could do something himself if he tried to use **Sandalphon** , but he felt it wasn't exactly a prudent idea to do so seeing as this was just a raven and getting incapacitated over it and so early in the morning would just earn him a stern scolding from IF.

"Wait… is that raven glowing?"

Shidou's eyes widened in surprise as, true to Noire's words, the raven began to glow ominously.

" _Listen well, Shidou. If you're ever in a situation where you're facing a monster that suddenly changed mid-battle, it's better off if you run."_

He turned around, his words spilling out of his mouth even before he could face Compa.

" _Run?"_

"Ms. Compa, stop!"

The pink-haired nurse stopped at the command but not before she released one more shot towards the glowing raven.

" _Well, it's not like it's a common occurrence, but if the event ever does come up, you would know immediately. Anyway, comparing the pre-transformed monster to the transformed version would be like comparing your blank-slate self with the you of the present. The difference is like night and day – like a boss monster suddenly went one-winged angel on you but it isn't even funny since this is just a common mob."_

The last shot that Compa fired seemed to fly in slow motion from Shidou's point of view as it, unlike the many others that Compa had fired earlier, flew with its aim true.

"… _so it's like a common mob monster suddenly leveling up to a boss worthy foe?"_

" _Yep."_

The light engulfed the raven and once the light faded away, a giant and slightly discolored version of the raven appeared.

" _Why does it occur?"_

The last shot of Compa impacted the raven, but unlike the one she had shot at earlier, the raven barely flinched from the attack. The shot did not seem to hurt it, but it certainly got its attention as it turned towards Compa, its eyes glinting menacingly.

" _Nobody knows. It just popped up one day, sometime three years ago. We've fought several ones actually, but during those times we were often with a pick up group so the danger level isn't so high."_

Shidou focused energy onto his legs, uncaring if _that_ energy seeped in. Although the distance between him and Compa was merely twenty meters and the distance between her and the raven was several times that, he had no idea how strong the raven would have become once it had changed.

" _What do they call it?"_

A sharp pain entered Shidou's legs, but he paid it no mind. The pupils of his eyes shifted and began to glow, radiating power unlike his normally passive eyes.

" _They call it, going Viral."_

The ground beneath Shidou shattered, almost at the same time as the raven flew with a burst of speed unlike its brethren earlier. Although the targets were the same, the purpose of reaching the target differed for the monster and Shidou.

It was a race that Shidou could not bear to lose.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

A bit shorter than most other updates, but it was hard to bring out anymore given what else I've written.

So yeah, it's been a while. The next chapter will come soon but it would be more of a side story seeing as it depicts a certain event that occurred before the story 'Lost Fragments' started. As for how soon... definitely faster than this update and who knows? Depending on certain factors, it may come within the week.

To answer some reviews... there might be small timeskips here and there, but nothing larger than a month as of the moment. As for Shidou cross-dressing, I have no plans for that as of yet although given the people he's with and what he has experienced in the light novel, I won't say that the chances of it happening is impossible.


	8. SS: A Writer and Her Illustrator

_**Side Story – Meetings: A Writer and Her Illustrator**_

"Production and exportation of catalysts have increased by 10% since the last cycle and while there are concerns about procurement of the items – something we need to talk about with the Guild, everything is still going as predicted from this year's forecast."

Within a certain room in the Basilicom of Lowee, stood an elderly lady wearing an elaborate dress of red, gold and blue, and seated before her was a young girl. The young girl wore a white cap with light blue ruffles and a brown and gold under and center piece. The clothing she wore was that of an opened white jacket with powder blue markings, with dark brown lining

"…"

"That concludes the report for this quarter, Lady Blanc."

The elderly lady ended the report and with a respectful bow, carefully handed a large folder stuffed with various documents.

The report had been a rather positive affair, but there was a hint of a frown upon the sandy-brown haired girl's face. Given that the girl in question was not one to show her expression so explicitly, it was a telling a sign that she was troubled when it was easily perceivable by someone who was not as acquainted as the elderly woman was with the young looking girl.

"Is there something wrong, Lady Blanc?"

"…no. Thank you for your report, Nami."

It was an expected reply, the elderly woman named Nami thought.

It was a reoccurring event in which Nami would recognize something off from Blanc's disposition but one which would be brushed off by the girl in question. This had started a couple of months after her return from Celestia, and had become more and more apparent as time went on.

Not for the first time Nami wondered if she should pry further, but she quickly reminded herself that she was just an Oracle – one that was quickly reaching the day in which she should retire and hand down her title to the next successor. If the CPU of the landmass deemed that the information was for her to know, then she would say so otherwise, it would be far too disrespectful.

"If that is so, then by your leave."

Nami made to walk towards the doors of the meeting room. Although no words were spoken by the CPU that dismissed her, the silence that followed after the dismissal of her concerns might as well be one for the often silent CPU.

Normally, being the case.

"Nami."

Nearly jumping in surprise at the sudden but quiet call, Nami managed to control her reaction to that of a small twitch and calmly turned towards the CPU.

"Is there anything you need of me, Lady Blanc?"

For a moment, Nami wondered if she would be called out for her disrespectful action of leaving without getting any confirmation from the petite CPU.

"…has there been any reports about Planeptune's CPU?"

To her relief and surprise however, the topic was about something else entirely.

Unlike Lowee, Leanbox and Lastation, Planeptune was notable in the sense that its CPU had not once been sighted in its Basilicom despite the descent of the CPUs nearly 2 years ago. Judging by the way that her CPU had not made any mention of or taken note of this oddity meant that she either didn't care about it or that she knew something about it.

Nevertheless, Lady Blanc was hardly a talkative person (barring certain circumstances that were best avoided) and it would be going beyond her duty to ask. All that mattered to her was how the landmass was ran and the state of her land's CPU. That being the case, it was certainly surprising that after all this time, her CPU had asked about the missing CPU.

"No. There have been no sightings of Planeptune's CPU or Oracle." Nami answered.

All that Nami had heard about from Planeptune was that despite its CPU and Oracle going missing, the Basilicom of the landmass was efficient and well managed enough to maintain the current state of affairs. Although given the rumors that seemed to be going about by the members of the Guild, it seemed that monsters were quickly becoming a problem to the land of Purple Progress.

"…I see. Thank you, Nami. You may leave."

Bowing before she left, Nami wondered what had brought that line of questioning about. That question continued to bother her throughout the day as the expression that her CPU held when she had received the answer to her question was unsettling to say the least.

Blanc, otherwise known as White Heart to the public, mulled over the content of the report that she had received from her Oracle. Although she was certain of Nami's performance as the years had proved her competency and skill in managing the landmass, it was best to be sure as Nami was quickly coming to the age in which she would pass down the torch to the younger generation.

It saddened her that another loyal and trustworthy Oracle was soon succumbing to the effects of time, but this was something that she had inevitably gotten used to. It was a simple fact of life – everything and everyone will one day fade away.

Not even CPUs, as eternal as they are, were exempt from this fact of life. After all, ever since that fateful clash, no one has seen or heard from the so called missing CPU of Planeptune.

The mere thought of Planeptune's CPU sent Blanc to a dark mood.

Despite the events of the fateful clash, there had been little to no difference since then. If anything, the monster infestation had only grown worse once everything had settled down after her descent to the land of the mortals.

The end result should have been different – _something_ should have changed since the conclusion of the clash.

Yet why was everything growing worse?

Stagnation had been the name of the game for the past year now and although her Oracle told of positive numbers, the share energy she received from the populace told of another story.

Blanc wished for more power.

Not for herself, but for her landmass – she didn't like it that adventurers were risking their lives for her people. Even if they did not believe in her, it pained her to see the injuries that would come from battling monsters that CPUs should be taking care of.

But Blanc was only one person. She could not be in multiple places at the same time. As strong as she was, the number of lives her hand could reach were still limited.

She found it distasteful, but all she could do was rely on the adventurers and hoped that the arcane artes that she had passed down to the magical community developed into even a bastardized version of the lifesaving healing artes that she could attain if she had enough share energy to save those who were injured in such an endeavor.

Closing the folder that held the reports, Blanc gave a tired sigh. An action that she would never show anyone else.

Share energy.

A form of energy that was derived from the belief of humanity towards their goddess and one unique to and only capable of being utilized by CPUs.

It was that which allows Blanc to utilize HDD and triumph odds that would send even a battalion of adventurers running with their tails behind their legs. A CPU with enough share energy was said to be able to alter reality to her whims and that anything a mortal deemed impossible was well within the realms of possibility for the CPU.

Although it was something that she had never experienced as her share energy have never reached to that point, but she was certain of the truth of this belief.

She wondered about the CPU of Planeptune. Was she truly gone?

If she wasn't, then that would make more sense but given the state of affairs in Planeptune, there was no way she would be able to maintain her power if she did not answer the call of her people. Given that Blanc had been doing her best to do just that in the years that followed her descent yet her shares continue to plummet, it was the height of stupidity that Planeptune's CPU hadn't appeared by this point.

But as she hadn't appeared… where did the excess share energy go?

Even if the people of Planeptune had not known of the circumstances that faced their CPU, doubts about her would still rise especially to those of lacking faith. Those doubts would then manifest as errant belief to another land's landmass – even if it was minute, and a thought that barely came in passing, if Planeptune's CPU was not there to receive the weakened share energy, it would automatically go to the sharicite of the CPU who still exists. The only time that the share energy completely ceases coming from a particular person was either through their death or once doubt closer to conviction tainted their views of all the CPUs – hence it was unlikely for a landmass' worth of share energy to completely cease from appearing.

That amount of share energy, despite being weak should still be noticeable especially in large quantities.

She was sure that the share energy hadn't made its way to the CPUs of Lastation and Leanbox, otherwise those detestable women would be showcasing it for all to see just to garner even stronger share energy from those that believe in them.

As that hadn't happened, Blanc couldn't help but feel trepidation for what the future held.

Placing the folder to a nearby cabinet, Blanc made her way out of the meeting room and headed towards her personal room in the Basilicom.

Although she wished to think more on the matter, the stress of the last few days had been slowly getting to her. Hence, she figured that the next most prudent course of action was to relieve it.

And due to a certain hobby of hers, she had one reliable way to do it.

* * *

Lowee – the Land of White Serenity.

It was a landmass unique for its almost perpetual winter and a bastion for the practitioners of the arcane. Unlike the lands of Planeptune and Leanbox, most of the automations and functions were in some way powered by the abundant leylines of the landmass.

This had the effect of making the air saturated with mana, but as most of the locals were using magic in some way to heat themselves up, it was far less noticeable than it should be.

"I can now see why they also call Lowee the land of the arcane… n-not only the air, but the way that p-people live here is quite different from Leanbox and Planeptune." IF commented, shivering as she rubbed her gloved hands together.

Wearing a blue winter coat reminiscent of the usual jacket she wore, IF couldn't help but marvel at the lights and structure of the main city of Lowee. Apart from the mechanisms found in Lowee, all of the houses were made to encapsulate as much heat as possible. Those that didn't fall under this category and looked more like a building from the other landmasses, were those that used a combination of magic and technology to keep the insides warm.

"…I suppose they would be seeing as how c-cold this place is." IF's companion, a blue-haired boy wearing a black colored winter coat and a dark colored striped scarf wrapped around his neck, replied. He had a large great sword strapped to his back that seemed at odds with his seemingly ordinary presence.

It was their first time in the landmass of Lowee, and despite reading up on the land, the temperature that assaulted them as they made their way to the landmass had still caught them off guard. IF didn't have enough control with the few spells that she did know to create a small flame to warm herself up and with the state of things, she was hoping to rectify that once their excursion in the landmass they're in ended.

"L-lets head over to the Guild office and see if we can find someone to teach us the local spells that could keep us warm."

Once the pair had obtained the usual briefing of what-not-to-do in Lowee from the local guild and had procured some of the local spells used to keep the body warm, the pair had decided to eat before venturing further around the city and eventually taking up some requests from the guild.

"They seem a bit more receptive here." IF mused, eating her stew in a sedate pace. The heat that emanated from the meal made the food taste a lot better given its contrast with the cold weather.

"Receptive?" Shidou asked, similarly enjoying his stew.

"What I mean is that they're more accommodating to us adventurers. Don't you remember? It took us weeks before the guild in Leanbox started giving us their time of day."

IF was clearly irritated by that memory, more so given that it was the guild from the landmass whose CPU she most admired. Shidou on the other hand, didn't know what to expect seeing as he was still learning what was 'common practice' in the past few months. It was due to this state that Shidou thought that the actions of those from the Leanbox guild were 'normal' instead of the other way around.

"Either that, or they really need adventurers. There are a lot more requests here than in Leanbox's board and there are even more adventurers here than in Leanbox's guild."

That observation might have been caused by the weather, seeing as staying outside for any period of time was almost a death sentence. Nevertheless, the guild hall and the connected dining hall were filled to the brim with various adventurers both young and old. It made the atmosphere a lot more homely and accommodating.

It felt nostalgic, if Shidou was going to be honest with himself. Yet despite marking that sort of feeling, he had no idea what he was being nostalgic about. The confusing sensation made a bitter smile float to his lips as he watched over the other guests.

"Hmm… before we do anything, why don't you look around Lowee for a while?"

"IF?"

When the blue-haired boy looked towards his partner, he noticed that she was looking down, as if avoiding his eyes.

"You… you might find something related to your past here. So maybe… maybe walking around might jog up your memories."

There was hesitation within IF's words, one that Shidou wasn't sure on what brought it about. Shidou might be able to know more if IF made eye contact with him, but she was surreptitiously avoiding his eyes knowing that once she did make eye contact, the reason for her request would be made clear to the boy.

If IF wasn't keen on revealing her exact thoughts, then Shidou decided to respect her wishes.

"If you say so." He said after a moment's silence. "When and where do we meet up?"

"I spotted an Inn on the way here from the Sky Port, according to the guild receptionist I talked with a while ago, that would be a good place to start until we can find an Inn that would suit our needs and budget. As for the time… let's meet in about 2-3 hours."

Although it was a rough start in Leanbox, they had eventually gathered enough reputation to take on quests that left them with more than enough spare change to save on more costly equipment that any long time adventurer worth their salt would have.

That, and a safehouse to return to.

Staying in a cheap inn was all well and good, but in the long term, acquiring a safehouse would cut down their expenses by quite a lot and it also served as a location for them to store belongings or items that they couldn't carry with them during the day.

Depending on what happened during their stay in the land of White Serenity, investing in a safehouse (be it purchasing one or by renting) might be a viable course of action.

"Right."

The pair soon finished their meal and parted ways to accomplish their separate objectives.

With the help of the rather simple spell that the locals used to warm their bodies in this weather, Shidou could appreciate the scenery far better than when he had arrived to the land of white serenity. Without the biting cold, his body was less rigid and his eyes wandered from each building to each new landmark.

Looking past the buildings were large mountains that towered over the largest building and gave a natural defense to the main city of Lowee. It was a fair bit similar to Leanbox in terms of geographical positioning, but unlike the land of Green Pastures, there was far more snow to see and it had less to do with the height of the mountains.

"Hmm… this spell really makes traveling around the landmass a lot more enjoyable. I wonder why there are still so few people outside though?"

Although the spell was simple, it was still taxing for long term usage. Shidou, of course, was unaware that his massive mana stores were not the least bit normal.

After an hour of seeing the sights and trying some of the local delicacies, Shidou decided that although he had felt nostalgia in the guild hall, it was more about the atmosphere rather than the location itself. The snow itself wasn't something that was new to Shidou either, but he was certain that wherever he originated from, it did not snow as much.

"Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever used spells before…"

Another nail in the coffin that this was the place where he was born was that even the children that were old enough to go to school here knew the local spell of keeping one's self warm. Before today, he had never used such a spell and if it weren't for the sheer simplicity of it, he doubted he would have been able to perform it under an hour of being taught on how to use it.

His initial foray with the arcane artes occurred a few weeks into their foray as adventurers in Leanbox. It had been an uphill climb and had only cemented his lack of worldly knowledge.

With that conclusion set along with visiting several key landmarks, Shidou decided to pursue another line of thought that IF and one of his acquaintances in Leanbox had brought up in passing.

It was easy to change pursuits for the blue-haired boy seeing as he didn't have much of an attachment to his past life. Perhaps if he had more clues rather than vague feelings, he would be more inclined to search for it alongside his missing memories, but seeing as he had been abandoned and that no one had searched for him in the months (or maybe even years) before IF had picked him up, it was natural this would be the case. He appreciated IF's efforts nonetheless, and he couldn't find it in himself to stop her from doing him a favor he wasn't sure he wanted granted.

Stopping in front of a rather large bookstore, Shidou stepped in after a moment's hesitation.

IF had always said that Shidou needed a hobby, maybe he could find one through the countless books of this bookstore.

* * *

Using a rather discrete exit from the Basilicom, Blanc was greeted by the ever cold weather of her landmass. Although her clothing was not exactly made to withstand the temperature that one would face outdoors in a normal day (at least in Lowee), she did not shiver. Almost as seamlessly as she had left the building she called home, a spell had been silently cast over her body that rendered the biting cold to one of comfortable warmth.

Had any of those vaunted magicians of the Lowee Noble Families seen the act, they would have been green in envy at the clean and efficient execution of the spell.

This was a given seeing as Blanc, out of all the CPUs, was the most experienced and knowledgeable when it came to the arcane artes.

"Mmm… the coast is clear."

With no one nearby, Blanc quietly made her way to the city proper.

There should have been no need for her to act so covertly given who she was, but her Oracle could be quite strict when it came to her wellbeing and would like it that she was at least with 2 body guards whenever she went out in her non-HDD form.

She understood where her Oracle came from, but even if she wasn't in HDD form, her control of the arcane artes was still unmatched and should that fail her, she was adept at using her hammer to render any foolish challengers regretting the day that they made her their enemy.

Besides, she was out only to visit the local bookstores for books and materials that she could use for her hobby. It should hardly take that long!

…and thus, Blanc echoed the same words that girls used to try to convince their boyfriend to escort them to the mall.

It didn't take long for Blanc to reach her destination. Without even looking at a map or the street signs, she had found the bookstore in less than half an hour of simple walking. The streets while not exactly empty, were not filled with people despite the fact that it was mid-afternoon. The few people that were out and about were mostly adventurers judging by the weapons that could been seen on their person.

Some Lowee guards could be seen prowling the streets, but Blanc made sure to avoid their sights in case they recognized her.

The occasional detour to avoid the eyes of the guard had cost Blanc some time, but as the city was neither in high alert or in any danger, the amount of guards in the streets were few enough that she could bypass them without even using a spell to conceal her presence or going through some more esoteric means of avoiding them.

With her goal well within reach, Blanc stepped into the large bookstore and was briefly buffeted by warm air before the door behind her closed, keeping the warm air inside properly insulated. With the cold now absent due to the shop's heaters, Blanc dispelled the heating spell and took a look around the bookshop.

Apart from the shop keeper who merely nodded respectfully to her upon her entrance and had gone back to reading a copy of the 'Lowee Times' with his cup of coffee, there was only one other person within the shop. Given the rather simple getup of the only other customer within the shop, she would have outright ignored him if it weren't for the clearly noticeable great sword strapped to the boy's back and his distinctive dark blue hair.

While it wasn't a rare sight to see an adventurer in a bookstore, normally an adventurer would be found in the bookstore that held grimoires and the like. Recreational reading was becoming less and less common these days for those who were part of the guild as they were usually more inclined to play video games.

That being the case, it was rare for an adventurer to head over to a bookstore like this. It was distinctly noticeable to Blanc's attention seeing as she was a regular to this particular shop – this meant, without a doubt, that the boy was from some other landmass.

Frowning minutely at that thought, she decided to ignore the blue-haired boy and continued with the purpose of her visit.

With a veritable horde of books that she has yet to read within the expanses of the bookshop, Blanc was not particularly short of what she needed from the bookstore. To be specific – she needed _inspiration_.

If it wasn't clear enough, the sandy brown-haired CPU was an aspiring writer.

…and if anyone had the courage to actually say what they thought of her writing, then it's safe to say that they might have spent some time in the emergency room.

Sifting through the shelves, Blanc was tempted to buy just about any book that caught her attention but the reminder of her purpose here kept her hands by her waist.

Blanc was certain that if she fell into the trap of opening any one of the books that caught her attention then it wouldn't be long before she completely forgot about her purpose and end up spending the rest of the night and perhaps the rest of tomorrow morning reading through it until her Oracle found her… which didn't sound like a bad thing, now that she thought about it.

Shaking her head as if to drown out that errant thought, she moved her body towards one of the shelves that had been in her mind ever since departing the Basilicom.

Her Oracle always complained that she couldn't quite understand what was happening in her novels or whatever her characters looked like.

…It was less of a complaint really, but more of an actual observation but Blanc disregarded that notion from its very onset.

Perhaps one way to get actual feedback would be to increase the reviewer's understanding of what was being written – it was due to this thought that Blanc found herself in front of the section where 'How to Draw' books were shelved. After all, wasn't there a saying that goes 'a picture paints over a thousand words?'

With her mind set, she eventually pinpointed a 'How to Draw' book based on the author's name from the spine of the book. If she recalled correctly, the author of the book was the illustrator for some game about sword wielding fairies… she couldn't quite recall the plot, but the art was definitely something that she could say was top of the line.

Her hand moved to take the book from the shelf, but she found herself flinching when she felt the hand of another on top of the book.

Taking her eyes off of the book, Blanc looked at the owner of the hands she had touched.

Blanc's eyes met with dull brown eyes and for a moment, she thought that the eyes were that of the color of amber. His eyes were innocent and bright, it did not look like it belonged to a veteran adventurer and it clashed quite heavily with the weapon he had strapped behind his back.

"Uh, sorry… were you hoping to buy this book?"

The voice of the blue-haired boy shook her out of her reverie and her outstretched hand slowly descended down to her waist.

"Yes."

The answer was curt, but Blanc felt a curiosity towards the boy. There was something… odd with his presence. It wasn't anything alarming, but now that she was so close to the boy, something was setting off her instincts.

"You can have it then."

"But you need it as well, don't you?"

As much as Blanc needed the book, it would be bad form for a CPU to put her needs above mortals…at least, in front of them. If that boy wasn't here, then he might as well cry a river since she got to it first!

"Don't worry about it." The boy said with a smile, it looked a bit forced but not because it wasn't the genuine emotion prevalent. It was more akin to someone who didn't show that much expression in the first place and found that trying to inject emotion required more effort than normal. "I think I can work with the author's art books instead."

"Work with?" Sensing something strange from the boy's words, Blanc echoed the words that confused her.

"I've been trying to mimic the illustrator's drawing style for the past hour or so." The boy said with a shrug. "There's something about one of the characters that she drew that seemed familiar to me…"

Now that the boy brought it up, she noticed that there was a sketching book by the boy's left hand. Judging by the fact that she could still spot the price tag on the sketching book, she figured it was just recently bought.

"So you have drawn something already?"

"Huh? Er, yes. I'm not sure if it's any good though. I've only tried my hand on it today."

"...let me see."

"You don't have to sound so disappointed, you know." The blue haired boy commented as he handed her his sketchbook.

Blanc was mildly surprised that the boy had easily pegged her prevalent emotion given that even her own Oracle had trouble doing the same despite the many years they had worked together. She would have pursued that line of curiosity if it weren't for what she saw in the sketchbook.

"I-it's not really identical to the art style of the illustrator." The blue-haired boy started a bit nervously seeing as Blanc had been silent after looking through his sketches with utmost concentration. "And as for the last sketch, I was trying to illustrate a scene from one of the books that caught my interest-"

Anymore words that the blue-haired boy was going to say was halted as petite hands with the strength of steel clasped onto his shoulders. With a look that sent shivers down his spine, the sandy-brown haired CPU spoke with crisp authority.

"Draw for me."

Whatever plans the blue-haired boy had for the next few hours was mercilessly taken up by his new acquaintance.

* * *

When Blanc had laid her eyes on the very first sketch, she was utterly surprised at how _beautiful_ and downright aesthetically pleasing art the boy had used.

The boy's words of 'not really identical' was downplaying the sort of ability the boy had with drawing. To put it plainly, she would have mistaken the art from someone where the title of 'amateur' had been in a distant life. If the boy said he had just started drawing today… was this what they called talent?

Surely, there was some discrepancies between the two drawings but disregarding the few (and easily missable) errors, there was no doubting the boy's ability.

Her drawing, Blanc would reluctantly admit, was outright atrocious. Comparing her capability in drawing with the blue-haired boy would be comparing the work of a child to that of a professional. The difference was so distinct, that despite her pride, she had to reluctantly admit this fact. It was only reinforced when she 'convinced' the boy to draw some things for her. At first, the drawings were based on some of the illustrations from the book she had procured earlier and later, she began testing his ability to draw things based on descriptions alone.

The boy struggled for the latter part but after several tries (and with some more clarifications from her part) he had managed to draw something she thought could only be accurately found within her own imagination.

That was her thoughts as she held the page of the sketchbook that matched her stringent standards. The boy before her looked exhausted and his hands were messy courtesy of the countless corrections he had done to arrive to the drawing that Blanc held.

"...you are good at this." She finally said. "Are you sure this is your first time drawing?"

There was self-depreciation and there was _this_. Naturally, Blanc was doubtful about the claim but the boy's countenance did not seem like one that would lie and he did not boast about his ability to draw when he had every right to.

"It is." The boy insisted. "At the very least, it's the first time I had done so before I lost my memories."

"Lost your memories?" Blanc felt herself frowning at the admission.

For the boy's part, he merely shrugged and continued as if he was talking about the weather.

"I have no memories of who I am before 4 months ago." The boy admitted. "So as far as I know, this had been the first time I've drawn."

While the boy did not seem offended by the question, Blanc felt guilty of bringing the topic up.

"Don't feel too guilty about it." The boy said waving it off with a light chuckle, once again reading through her expression even though the change was minute enough to be unreadable to almost all observers. "I sometimes forget that fact myself!"

The boy had attempted to inject cheer into his voice as if trying to give her a form of assurance that it was alright, that he didn't mind it. Given that the boy was slightly awkward when it came into the expressing emotions department, it was blatantly obvious what he was trying to do.

That very effort made Blanc feel all the more guilty.

"Your name."

"Huh?"

"We've been here for quite a while, and you've never told me your name."

The 'here' that Blanc referred to was the Basilicom. After procuring some more sketchbooks and drawing materials, Blanc had bodily dragged the boy to the Basilicom and into one of the many meeting rooms of her abode. The boy had clearly been uncomfortable at entering the place from a back entry, but seemed to have calmed down when those within the building had simply nodded towards their general location.

The staff knew better than to bother their CPU when she was at this state but they couldn't help but feel curious as to what had occurred.

After all, this had been the first time that any of them have seen the CPU dragging a _boy_ around.

"Oh! That's right, my name is Shidou." The blue-haired boy said with, what he supposed was, a small grin. "I'm an adventurer."

Although Blanc had already assumed as such given the great sword that the boy, Shidou, had carried around throughout their time together, it was still surprising given the form of disposition the boy held. He felt more like a civilian than an adventurer but perhaps due to the boy's lacking memories, it could be explained that his lacking disposition was due to still learning of it.

"I'm Blanc. I... work here."

She hesitated for a moment, before mentioning a half-truth.

There was no need for her to lie… after all, it wasn't as if it was a secret that she was the CPU of Lowee. Although that was the case, it did not mean that she paraded that knowledge around when outside of her HDD form. If she did, she wouldn't be able to sneak out as often as she did whenever the mood took her.

"I figured that was the case when the staff here didn't seem to mind me going in from an entrance that wasn't the front…"

That also reminded Blanc to inform her staff not to educate the boy on whom he had been speaking with throughout the duration of his stay and that they should inform her should the boy be within the immediate premises of the basilicom.

"That's enough of a break. I want you to illustrate this next."

It was merely a whim from Blanc's part but nevertheless, once the idea manifested and the words had spilled out of her lips, she felt no regrets for her action.

"Wait, is that a manuscript?" Shidou asked, paling at the veritable stack of papers that Blanc pulled out from one of the cabinets.

"Of course it is."

"...I'm not going to feel my arms tomorrow morning, am I?"

"You're an adventurer. Toughen up."

From there, the pair continued to work with more illustrations while talking to one another. It was a rare occurrence for Blanc to speak more than she had to, but somehow, whether it was due to describing the illustrations that she wanted the boy to do or some other factor, she found no problem with conversing with the boy before her.

If Blanc took a moment to think more on the subject, she would have realized that she enjoyed talking with the blue-haired boy as there was no need to keep up appearances. To the blue-haired boy, Blanc was simply a person that worked in the Basilicom who wanted her writing to take a less than written form and to Blanc, the boy was a curious adventurer that had a strange past and stranger disposition for someone involved with the guild.

It would be around late evening when the two finally parted. It was not a farewell; it was a temporary parting where they would soon meet again. After all, this was simply the beginning of a friendship between a CPU that aspired to be a writer and an adventurer who happened to have the skills to be an illustrator.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Happy New Year everyone! This was actually supposed to be released a few weeks ago but I ended up getting distracted and then work suddenly started once again... I only managed to find the energy to submit this today seeing as I have more time than usual to revise this before submitting it.

If it isn't obvious yet, this happens several months before _Lost Fragments_ begins and a few weeks before Shidou obtained the crystal fragment that allowed him to access the Angel, Sandalphon. Hopefully chapter will shed some light as to the background of the world this story takes place in.

Thank you to all those that reviewed! There will be more world building in the future just to set how different this world is and how certain mechanics interact. It's true that Shidou is more competent here compared to his LN counterpart (at least, up until Volume 15) but that's mainly due to being an adventurer for a whole year (hence making fighting a common day occurrence).

Well clothing damages does happen as I have alluded to in some of the earlier chapters, but if it would get to that extent... that's still up in the air as of the moment.

As for Shidou's capability in drawing – while he's not in the same level as Natsumi, he has definitely improved after working on illustrations alongside her during Nia's arc. As to why he had improved, that may be covered sometime in the future when I start dropping more clues as to how Shidou got sent into the Neptunia world in the first place.

There would be a few more side stories in the future to show what had happened to Shidou and IF that led up to the beginning of this story - but that won't be anytime soon. The next chapter will have us back where we left off last chapter.

Until then, I'll be signing off - and hopefully the next chapter comes within two months...


	9. Morning Training II

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Date A Live or Hypedimension Neptunia in any way… if I did, the former would have an RPG video game by now!**_

* * *

"So Iffy, what's the first thing we're going to do?"

Having traveled for near half an hour from the point they've parted with Shidou, Compa and Noire, Neptune paused in her steps as she looked at IF expectantly. Surprisingly, there had been close to no monster prowling about during that time period and the few that did appear, were content to ignore them or ran off to the opposite direction.

"This should be far enough from the main path that we'd start meeting up with some of the aggressive monsters." IF answered finally taking out her new pair of katars. It lacked the sleek design and intimidating presence that her older set of katars held but as it had been given to her for free, she couldn't really ask for more at the moment. "For the time being though, I want to see how you fight on your own."

"How I fight? But you've seen me fight quite a lot in the past few days."

"I have," IF agreed with a nod. "But I haven't been observing your fighting style as much as I should have. Brute force is all well and good, as you have shown the capability of doing that and more, but devising strategies that fit your talents would require me to actually look carefully."

While IF wasn't exactly a strategist given that the majority of the quests she partook in only had Shidou as her sole party member, but she understood the necessity of knowing the abilities of those she partied with. It would often decide how much she could rely on someone to perform a given task or if certain plans could be executed because those with her have the skills to make it possible.

"Okiedokie then!"

At Neptune's agreement, a pair of wolves entered the clearing that Neptune and IF had stopped at. Their glowing red eyes would have paralyzed normal civilians in fear but neither of the two girls felt anything from the wolves growling at them despite the near darkness that the lack of lighting gave the surroundings.

Certainly, the pair held guarded postures that made sure they weren't lax, but they were far from tense and had enough presence of mind to keep their attention in the area around them.

"Alright cannon fodders! Time to meet your maker!"

"…haaa, that's just going to attract more monsters here."

Despite saying so, IF made no move to assist Neptune. It wasn't a case of making Neptune fend for herself, but simply because she had a feeling on how the battle would go.

After Neptune had quickly dispatched the first two wolves – a simple action that had Neptune swinging her blade horizontally as the two wolves leaped at her – another group of wolves approached her from the right and left side.

The purple-haired preteen didn't look the least bit perturbed and happily destroyed the wolves with little to no effort. Even being attacked from multiple sides didn't deter her.

"Luck? Or perhaps instincts…"

If the one she had been watching over was Shidou, he would have probably messed up at some point already especially once the numbers started increasing. Neptune on the other hand, while showing no obvious strategy or anything that could be considered a style, looked as if she could go on all day and she would still have energy to spare.

Her moves, while haphazard and filled with enough power to cleave through slews of wolves in a single swing, were nimble enough that it wasn't hard to see that the preteen was one and the same with the person she turned into when she activated HDD. There existed room for improvement but IF wasn't quite sure if it was either because Neptune simply liked to fight that way or that her fighting style became more refined in her other form.

Comparing the amnesiac preteen with her own amnesiac partner, their affinities couldn't be all the more apparent.

As much as Shidou would deny it, his skill set was more in-line with a more peaceful profession as his skills with fighting were negligibleand the only thing that made Shidou capable of being an effective adventurer was Sandalphon and his possession of mana reserves that made the reserves of even the most accomplished of mages dwarf in comparison.

If IF had enough time or she knew of a way to teach the arcane artes quickly to someone who lacked any memories of it, then it was possible that Shidou could have grown as a magic user instead of a great sword user.

Neptune on the other hand, while the preteen would love nothing more than to take the easy way in life, had battle ability in droves that it wouldn't be wrong to say that Neptune had a talent in battle that made her a force to be reckoned with. Even as IF observed the ongoing battle with the slowly increasing number of wolves, Neptune was unconsciously adapting to the situation by making her evasions timed perfectly when another wolf would attack her from the opposite direction. With barely a glance and sometimes not even then, Neptune had a grasp of the battlefield that made Shidou's own grasp of a battlefield a level down in comparison.

She had yet to evaluate the purple-haired preteen's magic reserve, and IF idly wondered if it would be a worthwhile venture to teach the girl a few magic spells to widen her repertoire.

"Is it talent? Or muscle memory? Who are you really, Neptune?"

Whispering those barely audible words, IF joined the fray to get some warm up herself. She had observed enough of Neptune's brief bout to know what sort of things she would need to do in preparation for the future.

* * *

How fast was the raven going exactly?

The raven was high up in the air that neither Noire nor Shidou could reach the raven even with their more than superhuman skill (at least in comparison to the average civilian) in fighting.

Shidou's jumping height limit in his normal form would be around as high as a tall single floor building or a short two floor building. Noire could probably reach higher with her nimble build, but without any platforms to find purchase in, neither of the two could reach the raven without using some more esoteric moves that had no guarantee in accurately meeting the raven head on.

Compa's weapon range was not particularly long either.

In the right range, Compa's weapon would not miss its target and she had shown quite the dexterity in previous fights to prove that she was at least unlikely to cause friendly fire yet be at a distance that the opponent shot at could not easily bound towards her.

For exact range, her comfortable weapon range was around 100m but it can fire to around 300m.

With Compa missing regularly despite her innate accuracy, this meant that the raven was around 250m or higher in height.

A mere 20m distance should easily be reachable for someone of Shidou's build and it wouldn't even be called a race if the opposing player was over 10 times in distance.

Yet Shidou unhesitatingly called up on a power that can easily destroy his body from within just so he could reach Compa.

The decision was not wrong however.

A sonic boom echoed in the air above, which lent an idea as to how fast the raven had gone.

Shidou's sudden acceleration was barely above that, and despite reacting a moment later, he had reached Compa before the transformed raven.

"Kyaaaah!"

Using his own power to cushion the impact between himself and Compa's body, he tackled her onto the ground just as the raven clawed at her.

With the momentum of the tackle, Shidou hugged Compa's body close to himself as he used his own body to shoulder the blow from the ground.

But despite the disorienting action, Shidou had enough presence of mind to quickly lift his blade to parry a follow up attack from the raven. However, the weight of the blow was much different from before.

"Guh!"

Grunting in exertion, Shidou quickly used enchant magic to ward the raven off but it was only when Noire came rushing in that the raven finally flew off.

"Shidou, Compa are you alri – you pervert!"

"Eh?" Letting out a sound of confusion, Shidou felt that the accusation came from left field. Although now that Shidou thought about it, there was a soft sensation coming from his left hand…

"Ah - !"

Letting out a sound that would chip away at a man's sanity, Shidou's attention quickly turned away from Noire's accusation towards Compa.

"Eh?"

"M-Mr. Shidou, if you squeeze any harder, y-you'll have to take responsibility…" Compa breathed out, her complexion not too different from the color of her hair.

"Take responsibility…?"

Shidou's eyes trailed down from Compa's face towards his left hand. He had not paid much attention towards where he had grasped so long as he could make it to Compa's side to pull her away from danger… although just by focusing on the sensation, it almost felt like he had grasped a part of heaven…

It was no surprise however, as his left hand had somehow grasped at Compa's soft yet supple brea-

"S-Sorry!"

Leaping back, almost as if his hands got burned, Shidou's own face burned up to match Compa's complexion.

"I – I didn't mean to do that! It was, I mean…"

Shidou's words trailed off, and he turned his attention towards the raven.

"…sorry, I'll apologize in depth later. Right now, we need to decide what we do next."

"Yes… I want to get an explanation as how that came to be." Noire said darkly, sending a shiver down Shidou's spine.

"R-right… Anyway, it seems like running is out of the window. That raven is far too fast now, if a bit predictable. Although I'm not sure how predictable seeing as it just changed forms."

"Going viral, huh… it's not common, but it seems to be happening more frequently as of late."

"You've encountered them before?"

"Y-yes… I remember something along those lines." Noire admitted a bit hesitantly.

Shidou nodded his head at that. Although viral monsters were 'uncommon', anyone who has been adventuring past the safe areas of the landmass would eventually encounter it. It was more odd to find someone who has yet to encounter one.

"So what's the plan?" Noire asked.

Observing the raven circling above them, Shidou felt that it would have been more prudent to run away at this point. There was no need to take it out, and doing so for a warm up exercise seemed a bit excessive. That said, if they left it behind, an unfortunate adventurer might come across it and may even end up losing their lives.

"…it's not like we can run, now that things have ended up like this." Shidou muttered quietly. "And if a monster like that remains here, I fear for other adventurers that might end up here."

"So we'll take it on?"

"Yes, but we'll need to either render its speed useless or have it work for us."

Although the strength, vitality and speed of the raven had all increased, it did not necessarily mean that there was a sudden change in how it attacked or pursued its foes. To put it simply, it would be like a monster suddenly getting a huge dose of instantly working steroids – only the base physical stats were increased but its mental capacity had remained the same.

There have been instances in the past where viral monsters gained new abilities upon transformation, but the raven before the party did not look like one that had obtained any distinct ability. Most viral monsters that do gain an ability at least had some time living under their new forms.

"It seems like you have a plan… I thought you said you were pretty bad at making tactics?"

"It's hard to say I'm good at it..." Shidou said rather vaguely. "I just have something to base the tactics on. Anyway, here's what we should do…"

Describing the layout of the plan to Noire and Compa, Shidou made sure to keep the raven by his peripherals in case it made to attack. As the raven hadn't moved away from them despite its near prodigious speed, it seemed like it was intent on finishing the battle.

It was a good thing seeing as the trio would be hard pressed to pursue the viral raven, thus they couldn't let the chance go.

Once the planning session was over, they moved their respective spots and once Compa had hefted up her weapon, Shidou nodded towards her.

"Alright, Compa, if you will."

Compa nodded and once again aimed at the raven with her… giant syringe.

Seeing as neither Shidou nor Noire had anything that could reach the raven, it was decided that Compa would be the one to reinitiate hostilities with her weapon. There was a chance that it wouldn't work, but Shidou was confident that with the way the raven was, it would quite easily fall into place.

Like before, the shots that Compa fired had either missed or were avoided, but with hostilities restarted, the raven aimed its sights once again at Compa and flew down with unerring speed. It was a noticeably foolish move seeing as Shidou and Noire were not too far away from the nurse-in-training.

"It's like it forgot that we were here…" Noire commented, readying her rapier.

"Weak monsters that go viral aren't exactly smart, so it's to be expected." Shidou agreed with a wry smile. "Although they still have reflexes of a strong monster, so we'll just have to take advantage of their stupidity and their reflex."

Within moments, the monster was in range, but before it could even attempt to claw at Compa, Shidou slammed his left hand to the floor.

" _ **Earthen Wall!**_ "

Initiating one of the few magic skills he had in his arsenal, a large rectangular wall several feet in thickness suddenly sprouted out from the ground before Compa. The sudden appearance of the wall made the raven comically slam into it like one of those cartoon animals that hadn't noticed an obstruction on where they're running towards to.

The wall itself fractured from the impact, and although it looked similar in size to the structure that would appear when he called for **Sandalphon** , it neither had its integrity or its almost ethereal quality. Comparing the two would be like comparing a sand wall with a metal wall – it was simply far too different.

Nevertheless, the wall had done its job as it had halted the raven in its tracks, rendering it immobile for a few seconds if not outright incapacitating it.

Noire immediately took action, and with a flick of her blade, the raven shot up into the air. The black-haired swordstress pursued the monster with a single leap and upon reaching the necessary height, used her rapier to slash at the raven, she grimaced lightly to find that her rapier had done next to nothing.

"Tch… even my rapier can't pierce it like this? Shidou!"

Following up her attack with a heel drop, the raven plummeted towards Shidou.

Shidou didn't hesitate as he held his great sword above his head, and once the raven was within reach, the blade descended.

After seeing how Noire's attack had gone in the air, Shidou decided to end it decisively by tapping in to the power of **Sandalphon** , to momentarily strengthen his arms.

The result was evident as the raven was cleanly bisected into two and the resulting momentum of his blade caused the ground beneath the raven to crack and cause a small quake.

By the time that Noire had landed, the wall that Shidou had called up had sunk into the ground and the raven was already in the process of degradation. Shidou himself had collapsed by his back with Compa quickly acting by taking care of the blue-haired boy.

"Are you alright, Shidou?" Noire asked, her voice tinged with worry. "Did you get injured trying to save Compa a while ago?"

As far as Noire saw, she did not see anything to indicate that the raven had actually hurt Shidou during the brief exchange.

"S-something like that." Shidou said with a stiff smile. "And before you say anything Ms. Compa, it's not your fault. No one expected the raven to change like that, and I suppose you've never encountered or heard of a monster going viral."

"Yes… I've never seen that phenomenon before." Compa admitted a bit downheartedly. "Even during the times that it was just me and NepNep, we never encountered a monster suddenly becoming all big and mean..."

"Wait, Ms. IF and Shidou weren't with you in the beginning?" Noire inquired, a bit surprised.

"Oh yes. We met Iffy and Mr. Shidou in a cavern in Planeptune. If they weren't there, that mean woman would have hurt NepNep real bad…"

"Mean woman?" Noire directed an inquisitive stare towards Shidou.

"We don't know the name of the woman either." Shidou said as he sat up. "Just that, she seemed to have it out for Neptune and was absurdly strong. She's almost as strong as or maybe even stronger than the woman we fought off yesterday."

Of course, it needn't be said that the woman Neptune, Compa, IF and Shidou had fought yesterday was also leagues stronger than any adventurer they had met before… but like the woman a few days ago, she seemed to be aiming for Neptune too.

Were they connected perhaps? Although now that Shidou thought about it, the woman from the day before wasn't keen on involving outsiders in their squabble and had avoided doing anything close to fatal when she was engaging anyone but Neptune. The former had no qualms on aiming to kill them when they had proved to be rather dangerous.

"S-stronger? Did this woman have green hair or perhaps blue hair?"

"Are there criminals with those sort of hair?" Shidou asked with a confused look. "Well, to answer your question, no. She had light purple hair and had a gothic appearance that made her seem like she came from some dark themed cosplay event."

It was a strange description but he felt it was an apt one nonetheless.

"…at any rate, I think I'm good enough." Shidou said standing up after seeing that Noire had no recollection of someone having that sort of description. "Let's go rendezvous with IF and Neptune. By this time, I think they should be finishing up their warm up or be done with it already."

Noire was still evidently confused by the description but left it at that.

* * *

"…so let me get this straight, you, Compa and Noire took on three ravens, and somehow, the last one turned viral and forced you to use _that_?"

IF was standing with her legs parted slightly, her arms folded before her chest and her eyes frigid as if imparting judgment down to whoever was unlucky enough to be the target of such a stare.

It was obvious who was the unlucky fool who had earned her ire, as the person in question was sitting at a seiza over the uneven grounds of West Wind Valley.

"I-I didn't really use it! I didn't even manifest it, just ask Compa!"

When IF glanced at Compa with menacing eyes, the nurse-in-training flinched at the stare and immediately began talking.

"I-it's true Iffy! Mr. Shidou only used the great sword he has right now!"

"Then how is it that Shidou managed to save you when the raven that attacked you was moving at speeds that nearly exceeds the speed of sound?"

"…"

As if taking the silence as confirmation of her suspicions, she turned her attention back towards Shidou making the blue-haired boy let out a soft 'Hiii' sound.

"And what's more… not only did you use a power I forbade from using…" IF's fist clenched tighter and tighter that Shidou felt he wouldn't have been surprised if it drew blood, "…but you also used that opportunity to cop a feel out of Compa's b-breast! I don't remember raising you to be such a perverted fool, Shidou!"

"It was an accident! I wasn't even looking when I dived to save Compa!"

"…but you still felt them, am I right?"

"…"

Shidou averted his eyes away from IF's gaze.

"…pervert."

"I'm sorry!"

IF gave a sigh, as if relenting and her expression turned softer.

"I can't say that I didn't expect this, but please look after your body some more, Shidou." IF said her voice tinged with worry. "It's a good thing I expected something like this to happen and sent Compa with you, but you need to have more awareness of yourself."

"…I'm sorry."

"Anyway, let's go eat breakfast. Nep already lost all of her energy…"

Looking at the purple haired preteen, she was collapsed on the floor clutching at her stomach while pitifully mumbling the words 'so hungry' in regular intervals. It made Shidou wonder as to what had happened during their absence, but decided not to pursue the subject since he was similarly hungry himself.

"Uwaaa! I didn't know that sandwiches could taste so good! You'll make a great wife someday, Shin!" Neptune said cheerfully, patting her full stomach.

"…it's husband, alright? He's male after all." Noire interjected, enjoying her own sandwich.

Based on the twin-tailed girl's expression, it seemed like this was the first time she had tasted a sandwich that tasted as good as the one she was eating.

"You know Shin, if you keep this up, my stomach might just convince my heart to marry you! Having food like this every day would be so sweet! Can you make pudding as well?"

Pulling out three disposable plastic containers from the basket, Shidou asked, "…what kind of pudding do you like?"

"Shin, marry me!"

"Get off of him, Neptune!"

Shidou had prepared a lot of sandwiches in the basket of food he had created in the morning. Since he envisioned Neptune to be the large eater type, he had made an amount that didn't seem to be aimed at merely feeding four people. Thankfully, the amount of sandwiches that he had prepared was a bit more than necessary and allowed Noire to partake in the breakfast without cutting corners for anyone.

He had also created pudding since he had some spare ingredients but it was somewhat unexpected he could do it so easily despite being half-asleep at that time… Was there someone in his past that liked pudding? It didn't seem like the reason why he could do it well was because of his own tastes.

"By the way Mr. Shidou," Compa started, her expression serious. "The way that you cooked these eggs to become so fluffy…"

"Hm? Oh, I just added a bit of mayonnaise, but since the mayonnaise that Ms. Chian had might damage the flavor of the egg, I made my own version using the supplies within Ms. Chian's kitchen."

"A home brewed version… I didn't even think of that."

"Well, it's less of a homebrewed version but more of a very specific alternative really."

While Shidou and Compa began conversing in hushed voices regarding cooking that made them look less like adventurers but more like chefs trading cooking secrets, Noire turned her attention to IF who looked busy trying to suppress… _something_ as she took a bite out of her food.

Since the look on her face was one of bliss, Noire didn't think it was anything serious.

"Ms. IF –"

"W-wa!" Jumping in surprise, IF nearly had her sandwich drop to the floor but just before it could, she caught it with one hand causing her to sigh in relief.

"…"

"Y-yes, what is it, Ms. Noire?"

"…right. I was hoping to ask why you and Shidou had come along with Neptune seeing as you've been touring the landmasses on your own for the past year and a half."

"Shidou told you about that? Well, it's not much of a secret, but we consider Nep, despite her questionable sanity, to be a friend of ours." IF admitted, getting some of her composure back. "Even if I was against it, after a fight with a certain lady back in Planeptune, Shidou would probably feel guilty if he had left those two to their own devices."

"Shidou mentioned something about that… who exactly are you talking about? An adventurer? Why is that person after Neptune?"

"For an amnesiac, you sure seem worried about Neptune."

"W-worried? Of course not! There's no way I would be worried for that idiot! I'm just wondering, that's all…"

"Is that so? Well, I'm just calling it the way I see it." IF said, shrugging lightly. "Anyway, there's no need for you to know since you have your own matters to attend to. It's highly unlikely you'll meet up with the woman anyway, so there's little cause for concern. We have no intentions of remaining in this landmass for long, seeing as the Basilicom is hardly the most accommodating in comparison to other landmasses."

Noire flinched at the remark, as if stung.

The way that IF had said 'your own matters', made Noire feel apprehensive. Although she wanted to know more about this mysterious woman, but it seemed that pursuing the matter with IF would lead to nowhere or at the very least, it would lead to an odd direction that she wasn't keen on going to in front of the other three.

Although Noire did not know IF for long, she could see that she was quite perceptive unlike Neptune, Compa or Shidou.

"What's with that over the top reaction?" IF said with an amused smile. "It's not like it was your fault that the Basilicom of Lastation is like that, is it? After all, you're just an amnesiac fencer with cosplay tendencies."

"T-that's right…"

"Well, enough about that. What did you think of the way Shidou fought?"

"…that came out of left field." Noire said, slightly reeling from the earlier talk.

"I was never any good with swordplay, so I can't say for certain if I taught him well in that regard." IF admitted with a self-depreciating smile. "Although you use a rapier, as a swordswoman, you should have an idea on how well his attacks and movements flow."

"If you weren't any good at using the sword, then why let him use a sword? Let alone one as cumbersome as a great sword?"

Great swords are not particularly wieldy type of weapons. Apart from its daunting size, its weight made it difficult to use and it made it possible for one to injure one's self simply at the act of swinging. Unless the user already had the body type to wield a weapon of that size, then it would be foolish for someone who was not even well versed with sword play to own such a weapon.

"It's what he felt he had used before. Although he has no initiative in finding out his past, as his partner, I still wish that he would gain some of his memories back. So small feelings like 'I felt I've wielded a weapon like this before' would surely lead to something bigger. Even if it was something as little as seeing an anime or playing a game that used a great sword as a weapon, so long as it was a memory of his past, then it was fine."

IF felt that Shidou saw too little value within himself as a person. Although he was leagues better than the state she found him over a year ago, the scene at that time left a great impression on her. As Shidou slowly began to build himself up and began making ways in allowing IF to venture the different landmasses, that vague feeling she had felt back then intensified to something as concrete as 'to have Shidou earn his memories back.'

She felt grateful for Shidou as the earlier days of being an adventurer was made more tolerable and all the more possible because he existed by her side.

To that end, she had changed to be able to become more supportive of Shidou gaining his memories.

If she hadn't met Shidou before, how would she be now? Before meeting Shidou, she had never found any impulse to party with other people or actively take requests from the guild. She had been content on wandering the lands, taking pride in her title as a 'Wind Walker' and even then, that had its limits as she didn't have the same battle prowess that she had now compared to then.

Shidou had admitted wholeheartedly that he didn't mind the life he had now, and was extremely grateful towards IF but it was because of those feelings that IF would not stop at finding fragments of Shidou's lost memories. If not for Shidou, then it was for herself who felt a feeling greater than gratitude to the instance that she had first met him.

It was partially due to those feelings that IF had no qualms in joining Neptune in her quest to find the key fragment regardless of how dangerous things had turned out. Shidou had shown an initiative unlike before and furthermore, this 'Histoire' person who had been contacting Shidou in a dream for around a year now, may have some knowledge as to who Shidou exactly was.

"…so even now, he barely has any recollection of his past?" A look of pity crossed Noire's face as she looked at the blue-haired boy.

"Yes. Unless you count muscle memory, and the names of 'dishes' as memories, then he hasn't recalled anything of importance apart from his name. I'm hoping Nep isn't of the same case as she also has no memory to call on as of the moment, but it's hard to say since it's only been a week or so since she had lost her memories."

As far as IF knew, Neptune had yet to regain any memories. Even when she transformed, the only thing Neptune really knew about it was it was called 'HDD' by Histoire and that she had an obscene boost in power. Her fighting skill was also more refined and she had a kind of disposition that was without a doubt, serious and reliable… although IF still felt irritated at Neptune regardless of which form she took.

IF had never seen such a power in all her time traversing the lands, but the same could be said about Shidou's own power.

Despite being an adventurer for a great portion of her life, there were a lot of things she still hasn't learned – things she has yet to see and experience.

"…well, there's no use thinking about those things." IF finally said. "Even Compa said that there's no one cure for amnesia. If the memories will return, then that's great – but if they're happy the way they are now, there's no need to rush getting them. Hey, Shi – Nep, what are you doing?!"

"Nepu?"

Neptune, for whatever reason, was currently hanging off of Shidou's back. The latter seemed unperturbed as he was apparently absorbed with a conversation with Compa – still talking about food apparently – and Compa had a look of concentration that immediately told IF she was unaware of anything apart from the words spilling out of Shidou's mouth.

…it made an irritating feeling spill out of her heart, but it wasn't like they were doing anything wrong. Although she'd like it if Shidou had some more self-awareness... Thus her ire naturally turned towards the next viable target.

"I'm obviously trying to make Shin reconsider! Hearing Shin and Compa talk like they're from some cooking anime has made my stomach decide that Shin is the one for me!"

"…rather than aiming to be the wife, you seem more like you're aiming to be a child."

"Child? No way! If that was the case then they'd expect something of me in the future! I'd rather just be the housewife~"

"So you revealed your true colors!"

Looking at the four before her, Noire felt in her heart that the party was far too easy going.

By the time that breakfast had dutifully ended, the sun had risen to the point that the biting cold of the morning air in Lastation had faded away to a cool soothing breeze.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

And thus the first half of the training has ended… I'm still conflicted on how the second half will go but I suppose I'll just let my whims decide it once I get back to that portion of the story.

My life has been rather hectic in these past few months and I've been met with quite a bit of misfortune hence I sometimes find myself playing more games than necessary to alleviate the stress of both work and other things that happen in my life. April will end up a rather busy month for me, so I probably won't get any more writing done for this month and May is pretty much an unknown at this point.

…so no promises when the next chapter will come.

On another note, I'm glad many of you enjoyed the 'interlude' chapter before this one. I'll probably write a few more of those sort of things (with different characters as a focus) to illustrate the events that had happened before _Lost Fragments_ began but it won't be anytime soon… at least, that's what I'm planning. I sometimes have no idea what I end up writing as I sometimes let the story write itself…

Anyway, until next time!


	10. Adventurers I

**Disclaimer: I don't own Date A Live or Hyperdimension Neptunia.**

* * *

Training soon became a routine that followed for the days that came after. Learning how each one fought allowed for better synergy when something unexpected came about and it allowed IF to focus on her own side of the battle instead of making sure everyone else was alright. Compa was slowly getting used to her role as a healer and was beginning to experiment on how to properly place herself in a battle in which she could do the most good which further eased up command pressure.

Neptune had largely remained unchanged either to her own inability to stay in one position for too long once the battle had gone underway or her own overzealous combat style , but when it came to team combinations or providing necessary cover, she seemed to find herself in the most optimal position for IF or, should she be indisposed, Shidou to give commands that took advantage of her location in battle.

Noire had surprisingly continued to join their morning training and, by extension, their party.

Shidou had no real qualms about it. Much like himself, there may be a chance for their party's third amnesiac on regaining her memories by doing things that she was familiar with. Though that being said, in terms of sword play, it was clear that Noire had him beat and his numerous spars with the black-haired twin tailed girl could only attest to that fact.

That being the case, Shidou felt himself slowly improving with each spar. It felt like the time he was learning the bow from his old instructor, except that he didn't feel a subtle irritation towards the one teaching him.

The lack of subtle but rather confusing sort of animosity made the learning much more bearable… even if he ended up far too beaten up to do anything for the hour that followed.

While Shidou and Noire's capability as battle personnel were more or less equal, that was only taking the whole into account. When it came to pure sword skill, Noire was far stronger than Shidou and as the point of the spar was to improve his sword skill, it wouldn't do at all to use anything else.

"Hey Shin, why are we heading out to east Lastation again?"

"You forgot already? You were the one that volunteered for this in the first place…"

"Leave it with the small details~ As I understand it, we are the only ones that can do this, right?"

"So that was the only thing that got your notice…"

Although Shidou held a wry smile, it wasn't something that he felt was particularly bad.

"If you think like that Neptune, then doing work for the sake of someone's life doesn't motivate you to actually do work?"

Apart from Shidou and Neptune, there was one other person with them - it was the fellow amnesiac, Noire.

"Hey! Don't make it sound like I only care about getting attention!"

There was something hypocritical about that statement, but Shidou decided not to comment on it as he spotted something at the base of a tree.

To put it in perspective, the trio were currently out in the forest East North East of Lastation. It was a fair distance away from the main city seeing as the trees were relatively healthy here, which meant that the pollution of the main city hadn't reached this far.

"Hmm… is that?"

Ignoring the bickering pair for the moment, Shidou walked a bit faster to reach the base of the tree. Upon crouching down, he noted the mushrooms that grew from the roots of the tree.

"Neptune, Noire - I think I found it!"

The pair immediately stopped their bickering and walked over to the blue-haired boy and also crouched down to see what it was that caught his attention.

"Is this the florian mushroom?" Neptune remarked, as she picked up the mushroom from the root with a light tug. "I thought it would look more… flowery."

"It matches the description of the pharmacist at any rate." Noire commented.

"Let's pick up a few of these mushrooms and pick up similar ones around the area." Shidou decided. "This is the general area that the pharmacist said the mushrooms are native to, and if we're wrong, some of what we pick should be the right one."

The two girls nodded and they immediately split up to look for the mushroom.

It was roughly a few hours after the crack of dawn, and the trio were currently knee deep in a request that had been given to them by a pharmacist in the slums of Lastation. It hadn't been a formalized quest given the almost nonexistence of the guild in Lastation and the almost hostile relationship that adventurers had with the Basilicom, thus the request had been given to their notice when one of Chian's contacts had come running for help just before they had left for morning training.

A family had apparently contracted a rather rare ailment that could only be treated by a potion made from a mushroom at the eastern forests of Lastation - the exact recipe was unknown, so IF ended up taking a detour to the Basilicom to take advantage of the Communication Towers to contact an alchemist that she and Shidou knew in Leanbox. Shidou, Neptune and Noire volunteered to get the mushroom while Compa would remain behind to make sure that the ailment of the family did not grow worse.

"I think that should be enough…"

After half an hour of gathering, Shidou had filled two jars with mushrooms. He placed the ones that looked a bit suspect in the second jar, and those that matched the description closely were placed in the first jar. While he had experienced his fair share of item gathering for quests before, Shidou had always been a bit apprehensive when gathering items that were easy to mistake for another.

As soon as he stood up from the tree he had gathered from to look for his companions, he noticed a movement at the edge of his sight.

"A monster…?"

Putting a hand towards the long sword strapped to his back, Shidou warily gauged his surroundings.

The trip to the forest had been relatively safe. There were very few monsters out and about; it was almost to the extent of being suspicious, but seeing as he had little knowledge of the quantity of monsters that are normally encountered here, Shidou had disregarded it as inconsequential. To a certain extent, this had lowered Shidou's guard somewhat and had him performing mistakes that would have him scolded by IF if she were here with him.

It didn't take long for Shidou to realize what had caused the noise - or more accurately, _who_.

"A child?"

Upon uttering those words, the form that was hiding behind a tree stiffened and with hardly any warning, turned tail and run.

The form was without a doubt a child - but what would a child be doing so far from civilization? Let alone in an area that's home to monsters?

"Wait!"

Despite holding a speed far above that of a normal civilian, the child seemed to be more familiar with the forest and had less trouble maintaining both his speed and balance as he dashed through the trees and bushes that littered the forest. Shidou on the other hand nearly tripped twice at the occasional rock that escaped his vision and after a moment of thought, used reinforcement to use the trees as platforms to jump from.

He had no idea about the local fauna in Lastation and given the nature of the request that they took, he didn't have enough time to research the monsters ahead of time or how frequently they appeared. Without Noire's knowledge of the geography, Shidou doubted he would have reached the right forest in the time that they did.

Just as Shidou was about to catch the boy that ran as if his life depended on it, a whistling sound through the air made Shidou react instinctively.

 _ **CLANG!**_

"A-arrows?"

Since his body had moved faster than his mind realized what had been coming at him, Shidou was momentarily stunned that a pair of arrows had shot at him.

Arrows implied that _someone_ was shooting at him. That meant that there were _people_ in the area.

...but why were they shooting at him?

 _ **CLANG! CLANG!**_

Shidou didn't have enough time to think too much about why arrows were shooting at him as more came not even five seconds after the last volley and in greater quantities.

Despite the greater amount of arrows shooting at him, it did not stop Shidou's rush to save the child and being experienced with using the bow himself (as well as being in the receiving end of it), he had little trouble in deflecting the arrows that came his way with his blade. Unlike IF's blistering speed or the white-haired woman's sword play, the speed of the arrows was child's play.

"A bit closer… now!"

Once he was directly above the running boy, Shidou leapt from the tree he had landed on intent on catching the boy to put some distance between him and the archers - but moments before he could, a flash of silver made him stop at his tracks.

 _SWISH!_

Narrowly avoiding the sword set to bisect him, Shidou rolled to a halt as he found himself faced with a man wearing leather armor with what looked like a set of iron gauntlets and greaves.

"Begone from here, bandit! We of Resolute Sphere village will never allow you to abduct one of our own!"

"B-bandit?!"

Now that Shidou thought about it, he found it strange that despite the number of arrows sent his way, none of them even went close to the running boy. It wasn't much to go on, but given the turn of events and the swordsman in front of him, it was clear that he would look like a bad guy.

"Prepare yourself!"

The swordsman, wearing what appeared to be armor based on Dire Wolf hide and iron, dashed forward intent on bringing his blade down on him.

"W-wait, this is just a misunderstanding! Can we just stop and talk about this?"

Avoiding the blade with ease, Shidou desperately tried to get a dialogue going as the reality of what had happened hit him.

"Silence! We saw you pursue my younger brother and take harvest from our forest! We won't let you do as you please any longer!"

Their harvest? Did that mean that the mushrooms were theirs?

"Hold o - n, I ha - ve a very… good reason for that!" Shidou said in between dodges, not even bothering to parry the blade.

After several minutes of avoiding the swordsman's slashes, the man stabbed his sword onto the floor as he began panting. Despite the passable skill of the man in swordplay, Shidou was far too used to fighting those faster than the man and it ended up being too easy to see where an attack would come from.

In the end, while barely breaking a sweat on his part, Shidou waited out for the man to exhaust himself to get a conversation going. He had already noticed that there were archers perched all around him, but so long as he didn't distance himself too far from the swordsman, then it was clear they were hesitant on shooting in fear of firing at their ally.

"Are you ready to talk now?"

"Tch… you have me at your mercy, what is there to talk about?"

The man seemed to hold him in contempt and given that he viewed Shidou as a bandit that tried to abduct his brother, he supposed this was all but expected.

"First up, listen to me." Shidou said clearly with a sigh, but still making sure to keep his guard up in case something came up to ambush him. "My name is Shidou. I'm an adventurer undertaking a request from a pharmacist in Lastation to gather a specific kind of mushroom in this area for a treatment."

Introducing himself to the best of his ability, Shidou had long placed his sword into its strap and procured his adventurer's license to show to the swordsman.

"An adventurer?" The swordsman warily stood up and took the card from Shidou. "You said at the request of a pharmacist… not the Lastation Basilicom or Avenir?"

"No. You could say we have a bad relationship with either of those two." Shidou said wryly.

"What were you doing chasing my brother?" The man asked.

"I thought he was a lost child. Since there were a few monsters around, and that we were far from the main city, I figured I'd take the boy back to the city."

"...I see."

The swordsman seemed to have regained much of his composure in the last few seconds and seemed to send a look towards the boy who had hidden himself behind a tree.

"Erm… I'm sorry if my companions and I took mushrooms without permission." Shidou started. "We were pressed for time and were unaware that there was a village out here that managed the resources."

"Companions, you say? Are they adventurers like yourself?"

Despite no threat being wagered once more, but the glint in the eyes of the swordsman made Shidou realized he may have walked into something that could only lead to more trouble in the end.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, given the utter lack of adventurers in Lastation, the Basilicom's translandmass communications were relatively empty. The few that were present looked to be representatives of various business ventures trying to make deals or proposals to clients on other landmasses.

Worryingly enough, there were a few Avenir representatives, but decided to brush that aside in favor of the quest that she and her party had taken up earlier in the morning.

"Halt."

Before she could move towards one of the empty communication devices, a Lastation Guard barred her way.

"I would need to see some identification."

That made IF sigh internally. She supposed it was too much to ask that clarifying her purpose and identity in the front desk of the Basilicom that any other obstructions would be out of the way.

Again, however, it was ultimately unsurprising.

While the translandmass communications weren't filled enough to create a long queue (or a short one for that matter), the amount of processes that someone who wasn't part of a business venture tied to and acknowledged by Lastation's Basilicom had to go through was nothing but inefficient. Without any party member to slow her down, IF had dashed the whole way from the quest giver to the Basilicom and with her stamina as well as mana capacity, the distance that would normally take an hour or two to reach using transportation available in Lastation, IF had managed to cross that distance in less than half an hour - all that without breaking a sweat.

Yet despite the time it took to reach the Basilicom, two hours later and she hadn't stepped into one of the communication booths.

"Here are my papers." IF said, trying to suppress her grimace with a smile. "Signed by the front desk, the accountant and whatever that office was before this step."

...IF was clearly beginning to lose her patience.

"I said identifications - not papers."

"The identifications within the papers not enough for you?" IF replied testily before taking out her adventurer ID card to the guard.

The guard said nothing as he took the ID, before his mouth twisted to a sneer and he almost threw it back to IF.

"Tch. Don't take too long _adventurer_."

With those words, the guard returned to his post without looking back.

"What is it with Lastation's hatred of adventurers…?" IF muttered, turning around slowly before walking towards one of the empty booths.

There were certainly some group of people in each Landmass (with perhaps the exception of Planeptune) that were utterly hateful of adventurers and what they represented. Leanbox had been rather infamous for shoving adventurers away five years ago, but that had all changed when the Oracle then had been replaced with the current Oracle. In the present, it had one of the largest guild headquarters (when compared to the other four landmass) and was considered the unofficial base of adventurers being the most welcoming and processing the most new adventurers over the other landmasses.

It had also been one of the reasons that pushed IF from venturing outside of Planeptune.

Given IF's experiences, she found that Lastation's treatment of adventurers utterly bewildering. Granted, it wasn't fair that she was lumping up all of Lastation upon a select group of people's action, but those select few also tended to represent the powers with a greater pulling force than any other group of people she knew of in Lastation.

"Maybe I should go ask some of my acquaintances about Lastation…" IF muttered to herself as she dialed the number of her contact.

Temporarily putting aside her current misgivings about Lastation's state, IF decided to focus on her current task - to ask a contact of hers on how to brew a specific medicine based on the description of a local pharmacist.

 _Ring…. Ring… Click!_

"Hello, this is Gust the Alchemist speaking."

The voice of a young girl entered IF's ears from the phone and the previously blank TV screen in front of her showed a visual of a young girl with shoulder length brown hair, wearing a blue one piece dress with large white gloves and a white cap with bunny ear like flops. On the front of her dress was a pouch holding potion bottle and herbs.

"Long time no see, Gust. I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"Oh, IF. Gust is not busy - not more than usual anyway. Gust haven't seen you lately… you must be in another landmass? Judging by the number… Gust believes you're in Lastation right now?"

"Got it in one. You're familiar with Lastation's local number then?"

"Yes. Gust started business there before moving on to other landmasses wherever business is better."

That at least explained why IF would sometimes encounter Gust in Lowee or in Leanbox.

"Gust hasn't returned to Lastation in over a year now due to bad business."

"Yeah, I can see why that's the case. I don't think Shidou and I will be returning here anytime soon after our business is done here."

"Lastation is not a bad place… but management has become poorer as time has gone on. It's not profitable for any adventurer even if there are a lot of requests to go around."

"I've noticed."

There was a high demand for adventurer type work, but not many were capable of hiring adventurers to undertake tasks that were above the prices that Avenir could give and the prices of Avenir were already low to begin with. Avenir had also taken up much of the low level hunting and gathering requests that might benefit novice adventurers, and with how large the business giant was and their pull with the Lastation Basilicom, they were able to do far more than any normal business ventures within and outside of Lastation.

In a sense, any of the quests that they would be undertaking from here on in, would be more of a charity work. Given the informal nature of the quest they undertook however, IF supposed it was one way to hasten getting connections for finding the ever elusive key fragments.

"Anyway, I was hoping you can give me a recipe that uses this mushroom." IF said, typing the description of the mushroom and sending it over. "The pharmacist didn't know the name of the drug, but it's supposed to fix an illness that slowly but painfully reduces the mobility of the one under it."

"Hmm… Gust thinks it sounds more like a poison than an illness." The alchemist replied as she closed her eyes in consternation. "Do you remember the antidote you asked from Gust when you were deep in a cavern in Leanbox a few months ago?"

It was not something that IF liked to recall, given how risky the quest had gotten. Poisons were one of the many hazards of adventuring, and while there are certainly potions that can heal it, the type of potions that healed a greater variety of poisons tended to be on the expensive side and were thus a hazard for adventurers just starting out. IF and Shidou had garnered some experience with antidote crafting when the party they had joined met up with a particularly venomous moth after hunting the monster that they had been requested to eliminate.

"Yes, I remember. I still have some in stock."

"Use that first before applying this potion recipe. Gust would like to make it herself, but Gust thinks you and Shidou have enough experience to make something as simple as this."

A message was quickly received from the monitor and IF downloaded it to her phone without pause. Skimming through the recipe, IF supposed it wasn't that complex although calling it simple would have been a bit too much…

As expected of a child-prodigy alchemist.

"Thanks. Usual consultation fee, I assume?" IF asked, bringing up an app on her phone called 'PayNep'. Given its resemblance to the nickname of a certain party member, IF wondered if there was an alternative out there with a different naming scheme…

"You can reduce it by 10%." Gust replied.

"10%? That's awfully magnanimous of you." IF said raising her eyebrow to the alchemist.

"Business right now is profitable if a bit too much." Gust replied cryptically, making IF wonder where Gust was at the moment. "Plus, you're a regular and Lastation is Gust's home town. If you're doing requests there, Gust will help."

"Thanks, Gust."

* * *

Adventurers were often defined by their nature to venture to places that most civilians wouldn't dream of going to due to the danger that such an action often represented.

Going beyond the city walls, the protection that the Basilicom and, by extension, the CPU, becomes limited as the CPU was a singular being that cannot be in multiple places at any given time. Seeing as outside of the city walls are monsters of varying strength and ferocity, it was only natural that going out of the city without protection from the guards or the CPU was an event that no sane civilian would indulge themselves in.

The outside _is_ an unknown for a vast majority of the people and simply walking into it was an adventure in of itself.

It was due to this 'common sense' that those who partake in requests from either the people or the local government are called 'adventurers'. These are the people who have made it their occupation to venture outside of the safety of the city walls to see the world with their own eyes and to return with its bounty.

With the inherent danger of the outside however, a certain level of combat capability is required for any and all adventurers and if not combat capability, the ability to judge when one should run away.

Combat capability varied greatly from one adventurer to another, and classifications to the type of adventurer a person is and what quests they are qualified to handle is often judged through experience and whatever the guild, an organization that existed in some form in all landmasses, had placed onto an adventurer's card.

"It says here that you are a B Rank Combat Class adventurer." The swordsman that had confronted Shidou had said upon returning Shidou's guild card.

"What of it?"

With G being the lowest ranking and SSS being the highest, Shidou was considered a mid-tier adventurer at the cusp of attaining a high tier status. His designation as a Combat Class adventurer also meant that he was qualified in performing Solo Combat type quests that doesn't go any higher than B rank.

"Oohh! You're a B Rank?! That's no fair Shin! When did you level grind to get higher than my E Rank status?"

"I've been B Rank since the moment I met you, Neptune." Shidou replied dryly to the preteen girl sitting right beside him.

"Well, at least I'm higher ranking than Nowa…"

"T-that's just a technicality! I don't have a guild card!"

"Which means I'm still higher ranking than you!"

The pair had joined up with Shidou ten minutes after the hostilities had ended in Shidou's end and, upon a quick explanation, the trio had agreed to listen to the young man's request within the village that they hailed from. The time consumed was of little issue as traveling from their current location to Lastation's main city was relatively trivial should they really need to rush. Unlike their travel from the city to the forest where the mushrooms existed, the path was known and did not require a keen eye on the surroundings.

"Erm… settle down you two, it's bad form in front of a potential client and Neptune, the only reason you got that rank in the first place is because IF probably recommended you to the guild."

Although Shidou was trying to act professionally, he was admittedly out of his depth regarding the current negotiations. It was rare for Shidou to be the one doing direct negotiations as IF was the one that often talked with the client while Shidou remained in the background and his inexperience was showing in his demeanor.

Nevertheless, the pair quieted down with Neptune showing a smug expression while Noire glared at the purple haired preteen.

"Hmm… while I have doubts about your rank," The swordsman spoke, causing Shidou to flinch mentally at the assessment not for its truth but due to the perception that he didn't look like one that matched it. "Your fight with me certainly showed you are stronger."

"You fought with him?" Noire remarked raising an eyebrow at the blue-haired boy before giving a distrustful stare at the swordsman which somehow made the man look away.

"I guess you could call it that…"

Shidou didn't really consider it a fight seeing as he didn't feel any danger during the 'confrontation' despite being attacked with murderous intent but it seemed that the man held his sword skills rather highly and given that the others within the room seemed to defer to the young man that was holding the conversation with them, the others must also feel the same.

For Noire's part she gave a look over at Shidou's state and seeing as he didn't look disheveled or showing any signs of fatigue or injury as well as his generally evasive means of answering meant that he was trying to downplay something. One look at the other party immediately told Noire what she needed to know.

"So he's weak." Noire said bluntly.

"G-guh!"

Noire's words sent invisible arrows that pierced the pride the swordsman had…

"Is that so Shin? Then again, I don't really get that testosterone filled image when I look at him despite the way he dressed like some insanely good hunter from a nondescript village that is surrounded by monsters of legend."

"You two…" Rubbing his hand by his forehead, Shidou tried to suppress the headache that was growing. It was one thing from Neptune, but for Noire to be so blunt threw Shidou out of a loop. "Please don't mind their words, but if you are seeking our help, I would first like to know what it is that you need help with."

Trying to extend an olive branch at the visibly affected swordsman's pride by changing the subject, it took a moment before the swordsman finally sat straight and coughed into his hand to begin negotiations once again. At that time, Shidou whispered to his companions to keep comments to themselves.

It wasn't like they were in any danger, but it would leave a bad taste in his mouth if he had unwittingly angered a whole village for something as minor as this.

That, and the probable hit his and, by extension, IF's reputation will receive.

"To put it simply - we need your help in killing a monster."

"A monster sweet! I'm getting tired of these fetch quests! Sign me u-"

"Hold it." Shidou interrupted, his tone cutting into Neptune's cheer rather suddenly. "You said 'a monster'. Singular. What monster are we talking about here?"

Even if all of the people around him were barely competent as fighters, if they have lived here all their life, it would be strange that they wouldn't be able to handle a few monsters around the area. Barring viral monsters, the local fauna shouldn't be much trouble for a party of novice adventurers.

If the monster was a viral monster, the next question would be how long it had been active as that would decide how intelligent it would be and how dangerous an unprepared assault would end.

"It's… a behemoth." The swordsman admitted. "One, nearly four times larger than a normal behemoth."

"F-four times as large?!" Noire exclaimed in shock. "A behemoth is already as big as a small house, but to be four times as large… why hadn't the Basilicom been notified of this?"

"We have." An archer by the walls of the room commented with a derisive snort. "Countless times. The first time, they sent out a bunch of Lastation Guards. They ran with their tails between their legs and called it a tactical retreat."

"We lost four villagers that day." The swordsman muttered glumly. "We tried again of course, but after the first time, they've always replied that they don't have anyone that could possibly handle the problem. When we sent one of our messengers to look at Lastation's main city for adventurers… there's a distinct lack of them compared to five years ago."

"Five years ago…" At that, Noire seemed to look down on her lap as she bit her lip.

Unsure of what to make of Noire's reaction, Shidou faced the swordsman in front of him.

"How long has this been going on?"

"For over a year now and it's only getting stronger."

This was what Shidou had feared.

Despite being an adventurer for over a year, he and IF had the misfortune of participating in quests that shot up in difficulty from the original projection. The time that they had fought the mysterious lady and the sandworm at Planeptune could be considered 'normal' when it comes to things from growing bad to worse.

It hadn't been the worst event all things considered, and seeing as being with Neptune almost guarantees that they will meet the woman again, then Shidou was certain that it will continue to grow bad from there.

If this potential quest was any indication, Shidou was almost certain of the classification of the behemoth that the swordsman had described.

"We'll take it!"

Sadly, before Shidou could voice out his own thoughts and doubts, a certain purple-haired preteen loudly declared her own thoughts about it.

"Neptune!"

"Why are you hesitating Shin? These people need our help, so what else can we do but help them?"

They were simple words that told of the straightforward meaning behind her own declaration. It was not inherently wrong, and not something that Shidou could refute.

"As much as I regret to say it… I'm with Neptune in this one."

To add to Shidou's own quandary, Noire added her own agreement.

"My - I mean, Lastation's people are in danger. If the Basilicom will not act and refuse to say anything about it to the CPU, then it's only natural that we take up the helm for their misconduct."

Despite lacking memories, Noire had a nationalistic sense of pride for the landmass that she originated from. It was almost natural that this would be her answer. Not only that, she had, perhaps unwittingly, spoke of one of the major tenets that formed the guild of adventurers - _to act where the divinities would falter_.

Even if Shidou had his misgivings and that the exact details of the request hasn't been ironed out yet, there was nothing he could do but accept the request.

Looking at the other people around the room, a certain look crossed their face that made any notion of disregarding the request escape him. Shidou briefly wondered why that was the case...

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Ah, ha, ha… yeah, sorry for the late update. Life hasn't exactly been forgiving to me in the past few months as it was filled with quite a bit of work as well as overtime. Thankfully, it has mostly settled down but another set of problems have come up. It should settle down by the end of October, but until then, I'll be a bit distracted trying to deal with it.

At any rate, one of the other reasons why this chapter took too long was that I decided to rewrite the next set of events from scratch. This chapter and the ones that follow, are not originally part of my plan but decided to write it in any way to explain certain key things about adventurers and the sort of job they do. I guess I've been reading a lot of novels with adventurer guilds lately...

Given that these set of chapters are rather new, I might end up revising it at some point should I notice something odd or I wish to add something for future chapters. As for the next chapter... hopefully next month? Not a promise though, but at least one more chapter will be released before the end of the year, if not, at January.


	11. Adventurers II

**Disclaimer: I don't own Date A Live or Hyperdimension Neptunia in any way.**

* * *

"Shidou… repeat to me what you just accepted."

"I… erm, just accepted a raid level quest from a frontier village at the east of Lastation?"

Hearing IF's stern tone, Shidou replied with what felt more like a question rather than a statement.

"A raid level quest - one that requires at least a full party of adventurers to even have a chance of surviving?"

Although Shidou had not mentioned anything to that extent, the description of the monster they were supposed to hunt in short notice had enough descriptors to make an adventurer deduce it as such. Shidou hadn't wanted IF to worry, but as expected, he couldn't just outright lie to her. Even if he did, she knew him well enough that he would have given himself away the moment he did.

"Y-yeah…"

"And the only qualified adventurer there is you, Neptune and, to a certain extent, Noire?"

"..."

A sigh could be heard through the phone and Shidou could practically picture IF holding her head.

"I understand that you feel sorry for what's happening in that village, but know the limits of your ability. Even you can't save everyone that your hands can reach."

It was a practical advice, and although Shidou felt that it was wrong, he couldn't say that IF's words were wrong either. He was also well aware that the quest he had accepted was far beyond his level more so with the given manpower they had at hand.

Despite all this, he couldn't find it in himself to definitively deny the request of help that the village had asked for.

"I'm not sure if I can make it their in time, but if you see the situation grow sour, abandon it." IF said sternly. "Do not attempt to hold your position. There is no shame in running away - and if it takes making everyone runaway with you to do so, then do it."

"I understand. IF, if it isn't too much trouble, could you remind me what ingredients I need for the following items? I think I spotted some of them around here."

"At least you're thinking more like an adventurer this time." IF said with a defeated sigh. "Give me the list and I'll see if I can get it from memory. If not, I'm still in the Basilicom and can make a few more calls before I head back."

Shutting off the phone after a few more exchanges, Shidou sighed and turned to the gathered men. Most of the women and children had all moved to the mayor's hut as it was the most fortified of the buildings within the small village and unlike the wooden houses, it was built in concrete and had a sizable basement made to withstand a siege.

Granted, it wasn't fortified with magic, it had limits that made Shidou doubtful it would withstand a full on attack by the upcoming behemoth.

It made him wonder how a village like this had lasted this long. A pioneer village that was far removed from the city walls often had numerous factors going for it that allowed the people in it to thrive without the need of a constant influx of adventurer manpower.

Given that the village lacked any formal adventurer of at least D rank and that Lastation hasn't exactly been welcoming of adventurers for what Shidou assumed to be quite a while now, Shidou supposed that the village itself might be situated in an area that few monsters prowled in due to the location it was set in.

He had seen a few areas in Leanbox where a certain flower field repelled most monsters from approaching due to how its pollen was seen as distasteful by the local fauna.

"So you're done talking to your handler yet?"

Shaken out of his thoughts, Shidou turned towards the swordsman that had 'fought' with him when he had been mistaken as a bandit attempting to abduct his little brother. It had been a misunderstanding, but somehow, the swordsman found it easy to be mad with him.

Shidou supposed that might have been due to his hesitation in taking the quest. It was brief, but unlike his companions, he hadn't been as obvious as the others into immediately accepting the request.

"..."

"I thought the reason that adventurers weren't here was because of the Basilicom, but it looks to me that the reason adventurers don't go to Lastation is because you're all money grubbers that goes to the highest bidder. You look at our village and you immediately think of us as a wasted effort."

The glare directed at Shidou did nothing with Shidou's expression and after a few more taunts that also did nothing to Shidou's demeanor, he gave a derisive glare and went back to the others who were preparing for the upcoming fight.

It had been easy to keep a relatively neutral expression despite the stabbing words. This hadn't been the first time that he had met a client that hated his presence, but this was the first time that someone hated him for an action he committed (or hesitation of committing) rather than what he represented.

After all, some people who were especially reverent of the goddesses tended to be hostile to adventurers who go from one landmass to another having entirely different beliefs with them as they travel.

"...then tell me, what do you see an adventurer doing?" Shidou said moments before the swordsman left his sight.

Normally, he would have kept his mouth shut, but there was something about the swordsman that piqued his interest. The disdain was different from past encounters and he couldn't help but want to know the difference between now and then.

"Isn't it natural?" The swordsman said turning around and directing a glare towards Shidou. "To help others in their time of need!"

"That's… that's an awfully idealistic view of what adventurers are."

Shidou was well aware of the irony of his words which made his bitter smile more pronounced.

"What you're describing is more akin to what the CPU or those who work under them should be doing." Shidou said shaking his head. "Tell me then, what do you think an adventurer represents?"

"Represents? What are you spouting on about now? Based on the word itself, shouldn't it be to explore what is unknown?"

"That's true." Shidou replied. "So where was it said that adventurers work for money or to help people? This may go against what you expect of adventurers, but not all adventurers are benevolent. What adventurers have the most compared to other occupations is freedom. Be it good or bad, freedom is what defines an adventurer."

Shidou had heard these words before from two sources. It was those words that shaped how he had proceeded to get to this point. If someone looked up to adventurers so much had the mistaken impression… it would only be natural that somewhere along the way, this mistaken impression would cost them.

"I can't say I'm a benevolent adventurer seeing as I hesitated to take on your request." Shidou said looking straight to the eyes that glared at him. "But I'll give you a bit of advice - if I were malevolent and intended to ravish this whole village, you in your current state wouldn't be able to do anything about it. So intentionally being confrontational to an adventurer - do you wish for them to retaliate?"

Turning around and walking the opposite direction, Shidou did not bother to look back at the expression carved upon the swordsman's face. It was a look that, while not common, was something he had seen before and made him cautious in forging any long lasting connections outside of other adventurers.

It was not like him to speak in a way that may be construed as a threat, especially to that of a civilian rather, Shidou spoke simply to warn the swordsman of any future dealing he might have with adventurers.

In a year alone, Shidou had seen many sides of what an adventurer could be. Partying with newcomers and veterans alike, the common type of personalities and the quirks that would make up those who stood close to the apex, Shidou had seen only a drop of the ocean - but it was enough for him to create a warning to those who did not live in the same world that he did.

He might still be naive, but compared to the swordsman that had intentionally antagonized him for a perceived slight let alone with barely any capability to actually pay for the services that would be rendered - he might as well be a hardened veteran.

* * *

"Whew… they're not that strong, but I think if we keep them from doing anymore of the risky stuff, then I think this will all go swell~"

"I guess that's true. Most of the villagers will be better using their bow and arrows for cover than fighting in the front lines. Strange, seeing as their armory has its fair share of swords and axes."

Neptune and Noire discussed the last few hours of preparing for the upcoming monster by one of the buildings that the villagers had graciously given to them to rest and plan it also helped that it kept them warm as it started raining half an hour after they had disbanded to rest and prepare. There wasn't much food on the table given the situation, but it would be enough to keep their energy up for at least an hour of constant battle.

"Hmm… now that I think about it, where's Shin? I saw him talking with the archers when I went to the little girl's room, but after that, I haven't seen him again."

"That's right… I saw him heading to the shelter a while ago, but I really didn't get to talk to him since I was busy putting that swordsman… Raul? Through his paces."

While Raul had visible skill with the sword - that was it. He didn't have the innate strength that Shidou or IF had that allowed them to match monsters blow for blow if the situation called for it. His speed was also extremely lacking, but comparing his movements to a normal civilian would put him a level above them. Compared to IF and Shidou? Raul was far behind.

Noire hadn't been aware until now that the ease in which Shidou and IF had fought was not a normal strength found anywhere. If anything, it made it clear in Noire's mind why the distinction of 'adventurer' was so powerful to those who aren't.

Adventurers weren't just a term that referred to an occupation that ventured into places where others would stay away from, but they had a strength that allowed them to live through and survive the lands outside of the city walls.

For a while now, she had been idly wondering if she had been mistaken on the capability of a civilian – but as it turns out, it was more along the lines of those whom she had been with being an exception rather than the norm.

"If you are looking for Mr. Shidou -" A voice cut in, "He's out in the forest, gathering."

In the building that Noire and Neptune were in, was one other person. She was an ordinary villager but had volunteered to look after the adventurers' needs until the monster was taken care of.

"Gathering? What could he be gathering at this time? The monster is said to attack any minute now!"

The past few days of training and monster hunting had made Noire wonder why Shidou would be spending time doing that at such a crucial time. While they weren't loaded with money due to the inflation and lack of buyers for monster parts that seemed to be far more common on other landmasses, it wasn't to the point that they would need to gather money at any opportunity.

For that matter, the request that they had taken up in the morning had already been accomplished – the gathered materials were verified by one of the villagers and they had sent one of their able bodied men to deliver the goods while the adventurers remained behind to prepare for the coming attack.

"He didn't explain, Ms. Noire. He had simply gathered some spare materials we had available and looked for a few items or monsters that can be found nearby. He did say that he will be back for the fight, but didn't expound any further as he seemed to be in a rush."

Noire frowned at the explanation. While Shidou had shown reluctance in explaining certain subjects like the instances where he would suddenly have a huge increase in power, he was not a secretive sort.

"Thanks lady!" Neptune said, before sitting down to eat some more of the bread she had procured from the cabinet. "Sounds like Shidou is preparing."

"Preparing?"

"Yup! It's something that Iffy always goes and explains about every time we would go out and do quests back in Planeptune. 'An adventurer must always be prepared for any circumstances'. 'An unprepared adventurer is a dead adventurer.' Things like that - but really, we haven't faced that many issues apart from times when Compa runs out of juice. And we can't prepare for that anyway since Iffy says mana restoring items are too expensive..."

"Is that right…"

Now that Noire thought about it, she didn't know much about adventurers or what constitutes a good adventurer. Neptune was classified as a D rank, and if it was used as any indication, she was either a poor adventurer or one that had yet to get used to being one.

Given what she has heard from Shidou and IF, it was most likely the latter. Power wise, there was no question where Neptune would fall - knowledge and experience wise, that would explain Shidou's rank over Neptune.

Perhaps she could ask IF or Shidou about it later? Lastation lacked adventurers but it seemed to be rather common outside of it.

"Well, we have the time… We should discuss the formation of the party."

"Eh? More planning? Couldn't we just, I dunno, blitz the guy?"

"I'm surprised you know that term." Noire quipped dryly.

"Hey! That's rude!"

"If I had to guess, Ms. IF was the one that taught you the term, huh?"

"..."

Neptune's silence was enough of an answer.

"Figures. Blitzing is fine and all, but we're with civilians who aren't as experienced in fighting. Giving them directions would make them less likely to panic once the battle gets on the way."

"Wouldn't being confident just to show that everything is alright be enough? I mean, there's no reason to panic if it looks like we have everything under control, right?"

The words of Neptune halted Noire's thoughts as she looked at the purple-haired preteen curiously.

"...What?"

"It's nothing… we'll do both."

The pair decided to begin outlining several plans for the upcoming monster hunt. Given that the experienced adventurer of the three was out, the pair was mainly basing their strategies on the training sessions they had that led up to this day. Seeing as it was made for a smaller and more experienced group however, Noire and Neptune spent more time trying to outfit the plan towards a larger group with limited success.

...it didn't help that Neptune frequently got distracted.

"I guess the best we can do is set the archers 300m away from the fighting while we, the swordsman, and whenever Shidou comes, takes the front." Noire said rubbing her head at the planning session that barely went anywhere. She vaguely wondered how IF dealt with Neptune, but decided it wasn't worth the effort.

If she thought about it anymore, she had a feeling they'd be one less of a vanguard.

"Don't sweat it too much Nowa~ If things go downhill, then I can just power up and change the tides - I'm a protagonist after all!"

Noire could at least see how confidence could boost morale - she was certain that if Neptune had said this in front of the others, they would have all thought that the battle was already won.

Frowning for a moment at the thought, Noire wondered why.

Neptune at her current state looked incredibly unreliable. She had heard of their treatment when they entered the Basilicom, and she had felt that would have been the natural reaction of anyone - despite IF and Shidou both boasting being experienced adventurers, they certainly didn't feel the part given the disparity of what she had expected an adventurer would act like… not that she knew what an adventurer was at any rate.

Then again, Shidou was someone who had lost all of his memories a year and a half prior and IF had also admitted that they didn't truly start venturing until a little over a year ago.

Despite their lacking 'show', the moment that the villagers had known that Shidou was an adventurer and by extension, Noire and Neptune, the treatment and expectations all came rushing in.

Noire had only been with Neptune's group for a couple of days, and in that short time, she could ascertain that there was indeed a difference between the power of an adventurer versus those who aren't. Given IF's power alone, Noire was certain that it would take a platoon of Lastation guard just to fight evenly with her, but once arcane artes are placed into the equation, it would probably take more to even match her.

Was that normal though?

What was common knowledge regarding adventurers however was that they took up any requests - be it monster hunting, item gathering or rescue missions - how they performed it on the other hand wasn't as well documented seeing as doing so for a non-adventurer dangerous to begin with. Escort missions that required the aid of adventurers quickly becomes unneeded when transportation like trains or tunnels can remove the danger altogether by either being fast enough to out speed most monsters, strong enough to shrug of attacks, or by taking a path that is specifically devoid of monsters.

The curious state of adventurers really made Noire determined to ask IF and Shidou about it later.

Before Noire could once again restart talks about a plan with Neptune, the door to their room quickly slammed open. A disheveled and clearly soaked archer came in.

It only took one look onto the archer's eyes and before any more words were spoken, Neptune and Noire had both taken out their weapons as well as the given raincoats and rushed out the door.

* * *

"...it has really started pouring, huh?"

Wearing the hood of his blue coat, Shidou briefly glanced upwards to the pitch black sky. The sight made him grimace.

It was supposed to be a normal monster subjugation - but Shidou couldn't help but feel it was anything but. IF's assessment alone already made any fleeting hope that it would just be a normal monster go down the drain.

The description was already suspect. While it was true that Shidou hadn't been in Lastation long enough to be truly familiar with the local fauna, the general climate of the area and the types of monsters that Shidou had fought and seen had given him a general idea of what monsters could be considered 'normal'.

Behemoths were a class of monsters that were often found in large plains, wide deserts or mountainous regions. Variants can be found in caverns, and due to the abundance of unexplored caves in Lastation due to the lack of adventurers, that might explain why a behemoth could be spotted in a forest like the one that they had been tasked to subjugate.

Shidou had spent an hour looking through the maps created by the villagers as they had a greater knowledge of the area around them, but after exploring all of the caverns that could possibly be the source of the behemoth or perhaps its hunting grounds, none had fit the description.

It didn't make sense for the monster to appear and disappear out of thin air - it had to have a nesting area. If the nesting area did exist, there must be a reason as to why it had decided that it would be better to attack a village rather than going after the nearby monsters or plant life.

Another factor that set alarm bells ringing within Shidou's mind was the length of time the monster had been coming and going. There was no doubt in his mind that the behemoth might have become a raid worthy foe at this point in time - one that would require a full party of adventurers to take down. There was also the strange question of the monster still not having decimated the village after this long without any formal adventurers about.

"I may have Sandalphon… but would that be enough?" Shidou muttered looking at his right hand.

He had only used Sandalphon twice before he had met Neptune. The first time had been accidental and the second time was in an act of desperation.

The second time was memorable as it had been what was needed to take down the Emerald Dragon, a raid type monster found in Leanbox. Its scales were tough and highly resistant to magic - it had taken the combined effort of 2 raid parties to take down the dragon and if it hadn't for his timely use of Sandalphon, there might have been casualties by the end of the quest.

Sandalphon had indeed been instrumental in taking down the monster - but recalling the sensation of his blade making impact onto the dragon made him realize that it was not an almighty weapon. If he had attempted to use Sandalphon at the very onset, Shidou felt that the battle would have ended in a far more different direction.

Preparation would no doubt be needed.

"Oh, ho, ho! An adventurer deep in the forests of Lastations? Or perhaps a civilian straying away from civilization?"

A haughty laugh of what could be described as clarifying one's self-importance sounded out that it unconsciously reminded him of an acquaintance back in Leanbox… and for some reason, the color of orange seems to enter his mind.

Turning to the source of the voice, not particularly difficult despite the heavy rain and almost lack of visible lighting in the forest, a woman wearing a dress with the overall color being white and a distinctive witch hat with a gear like decoration attached to it.

Shidou wasn't as well informed as IF when it comes to notable adventurers so if the person in front of him was someone famous indicated by her self-important way of speaking, then he could only raise the white flag in defeat and admit his lack of knowledge of the person in front of him.

"I'm an adventurer." Shidou answered somewhat dryly.

"Not from here clearly." The young woman asserted confidently. "At this time, Lastation is not one you would call an Adventurer Haven."

"So you're not an adventurer from here either?"

Calling the young woman an adventurer was not a wrong assumption - although it wasn't outstretched at the moment, Shidou spotted an extendable staff by the young woman's waist. Given her build and the type of weapon that was visible, Shidou assumed she was some sort of magic class adventurer.

"Not at this time."

"...that's a strange way of putting it."

"Curious?"

"Not to the extent of asking."

Adventurers each had their own circumstances. For someone who wasn't a friend, a party member or a client, asking more would be seen as rude or breaching adventurer etiquette. There were those that didn't care for such nuances, but Shidou felt that unless the other side was in trouble, it would be more prudent to remain unaware of the ins and goings of other adventurers.

"Hmm… I suppose this is what they call as the 'start', right?" Saying vague words, the young woman who had been perched atop of a tree, hopped down to the water soaked dirt. Despite the height, mud and water did not splash needlessly to the side - it was almost as if she had never jumped and had just somehow appeared on the spot. "Intervening like this isn't part of my plans, but since this time and place is curiously unrecorded, then it's fine if I have a go, right?"

Sensing a strange tension in the air at the words of the young woman before him, Shidou felt himself take a step back.

"What are you talking about?"

"I am a _mad_ scientist despite everything you know?" Even though Shidou could not see the facial features of the young woman before him, he could sense a smirk grow from the young woman's visage. "An experiment like this, at a time like this, will not come again."

Her hand reaching out to her waist, she grabbed the stick placed by her waist and in a quick flicker of her wrist, it had extended into a staff.

"Doing this at any time other than the present would normally be suicidal and a foolhardy one given who you are."

"You know me…?"

The words spoken by the young woman, despite the confusing objective and the tension that was rapidly changing into a confrontation, prickled Shidou's senses.

"Perhaps." The young woman said in a flippant manner. "The only way to know is to beat me - and just so you know, even if you have no intention of fighting, I will still force your hand… it is in 15 minutes that you are needed after all."

"15 minutes… the behemoth!"

Shidou had been too immersed in his search and investigation to notice that the time for the subjugation was drawing near!

"Force your way through, adventurer of blue - and learn a thing or two while you're at it." The young woman said as several orbs of blue lightning floated around her. "It might just be what you need to triumph."

Grimacing at how the conversation had shifted into one of battle, Shidou could only lament as he grasped the great sword strapped to his back.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

A bit later than expected, but at least I released something, right?

Anyway, some of you should be able to tell who just came out at the end. Not sure if I did her physical description justice since I'm a bit lacking when it comes to describing clothes and physical looks outside of the usual 'cute', 'handsome' or 'pretty' type of descriptors.

Next one will come whenever it's ready. December has been a rather mixed month for me, and has been both relaxing and stressful at the same time. Certain things didn't go as planned and certain events placed a damper on my mood. So if I find it in me to change some things, I might update this chapter again depending on what I write later on. While later events have been written, it's been in a constant cycle of revision... I rewrote this part at least 3 times? I can't say I'm fully happy with it, but it's definitely better than my previous revisions.

That said, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


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